Entropic predictions for cellular networks

Michael A. Peshkin*, Katherine J. Strandburg, Nicolas Rivier

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

89 Scopus citations

Abstract

Diverse cellular systems evolve to remarkably similar stationary states. We therefore have studied and simulated a purely topological model. We use a maximum-entropy argument to predict that the average number of l-sided cells adjacent to an n-sided cell, Ml(n), will be linear in n. One consequence is the empirically observed linearity of the total number of edges of cells adjacent to an n-sided cell, known as the Aboav-Weaire law. The prevailing justification of that law is shown to be incorrect, and thus the apparently universal experimental slope of 5 remains unexplained.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1803-1806
Number of pages4
JournalPhysical review letters
Volume67
Issue number13
DOIs
StatePublished - 1991

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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