Regensburg 2016 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 29: Poster - Active Matter, Microswimmers and -fluidics, Statistical Physics Biosystems

DY 29.7: Poster

Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 18:15–21:00, Poster C

The effect of small population sizes on the dynamics of biological networks with few nodes — •Marc Mendler, Johannes Falk, and Barbara Drossel — Institut für Festkörperphysik, TU Darmstadt

Often, biological networks such as food webs or chemical reaction networks are described by deterministic coupled differential equations. However, in systems of only few individuals stochastic birth and death rates can modify the dynamics considerably, giving rise to macroscopic effects that cannot be explained by deterministic equations. When the intrinsic noise does not drive the system too far away from the deterministic limit, van Kampen's system-size expansion is a useful tool to calculate analytically the effects of stochasticity. Different groups have suggested different ways of applying the system-size expansion to small networks. We will compare these methods, determine their underlying assumptions and ranges of applicability, and compare analytical calculations to stochastic simulations.