Regensburg 2016 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 45: Statistical Physics in Biological Systems III (Joint Session with DY)

BP 45.2: Talk

Wednesday, March 9, 2016, 15:45–16:00, H46

Population dynamics in switching environments — •Peter Hufton, Yen Ting Lin, Tobias Galla, and Alan McKane — School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

In gene regulatory networks, the binary state of a single gene can have drastic effects on the dynamics of a population of proteins. Similarly, switches between environmental states are important in bacterial populations and in models of epidemic spread. The mathematical treatment of problems of this type---populations in switching environments---is an open challenge. We present a systematic approach to computing stationary states of these problems. We identify two sources of randomness: the stochasticity from environmental switches, and the intrinsic noise from fluctuations in the population. By extending the linear-noise approximation and utilising a piecewise-deterministic Markov process, we develop a method which incorporates both these effects.