Laufer Center Seminar - Jin Wang

‍ ‍‍ ‍ Jin Wang
Professor, Department of (Chemistry and Physics),
Stony Brook University

March 27, 2026 at 12:00 PM

Laufer Center Lecture Hall 101

Title: A Non-equilibrium Landscape and Flux Field Theory for Revealing Physical Mechanisms of Spatial Pattern Formation and Switching

Abstract: Spatial patterns are widely observed in numerous nonequilibrium natural systems, often undergoing complex transitions and bifurcations, thereby exhibiting significant importance in many physical and biological systems such as embryonic development, ecosystem desertfication, and turbulence. However, how spatial pattern formation emerges and how the spatial pattern switches are not fully understood. Here, a landscape and flux field theory is developed using the spatial mode expansion method to uncover the underlying physical mechanism of the pattern formation and switching. The landscape and flux fields are identified as the driving forces for spatial dynamics and applied this theory to the critical transitions between spatial  patterns in several biological systems, revealing that the nonequilibrium flux drives the switching of spatial patterns. The emergence of pattern switching is revealed through the optimal pathways and how fast this occurs via the speed of pattern switching. Furthermore, both the averaged flux and the entropy production rate exhibit peaks near pattern switching boundaries, revealing dynamical and thermodynamic origins for pattern transitions, and further offering early warning signals for anticipating spatial pattern switching. This work thus reveals physical mechanisms on spatial pattern-switching in certain biological systems and, more generally, introduces a useful approach for quantifying spatial pattern switching in nonequilibrium systems, which further offers practical applications such as early warning signal.

Host: Ivet Bahar