arXiv subjects

Nathalie Wehlitz

Publications and source records attributed to Nathalie Wehlitz.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Energetic characterisation of transient clustering dynamics in aggregation-diffusion systems

We investigate transient clustering dynamics in nonlocal aggregation-diffusion systems from an energetic perspective. Starting from a stochastic interacting particle system, we study the associated macroscopic McKean-Vlasov equation on the torus and exploit its Wasserstein gradient-flow structure to analyse the thermodynamic competition between interaction-driven aggregation and entropy-driven diffusion. Through numerical experiments for locally attractive interaction kernels, we identify alternating aggregation- and diffusion-dominated transient regimes along trajectories converging to fixed equilibria. These dynamics can be interpreted as a form of non-monotone clustering behaviour. Moreover, we demonstrate that clustering observables, such as the density peak height, are only partially coupled to the underlying energetic mechanisms and therefore do not uniquely characterise the relevant macroscopic transport dynamics. Our results highlight the role of the variational structure not only for equilibrium analysis, but also as a framework for understanding transient clustering phenomena in interacting particle systems.

math.DS↗

arXiv2026

Data-driven Reduction of Transfer Operators for Particle Clustering Dynamics

We develop an operator-based framework to coarse-grain interacting particle systems that exhibit clustering dynamics. Starting from the particle-based transfer operator, we first construct a sequence of reduced representations: the operator is projected onto concentrations and then further reduced by representing the concentration dynamics on a geometric low-dimensional manifold and an adapted finite-state discretization. The resulting coarse-grained transfer operator is finally estimated from dynamical simulation data by inferring the transition probabilities between the Markov states. Applied to systems with multichromatic and Morse interaction potentials, the reduced model reproduces key features of the clustering process, including transitions between cluster configurations and the emergence of metastable states. Spectral analysis and transition-path analysis of the estimated operator reveal implied time scales and dominant transition pathways, providing an interpretable and efficient description of particle-clustering dynamics.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2025

Approximating particle-based clustering dynamics by stochastic PDEs

This work proposes stochastic partial differential equations (SPDEs) as a practical tool to replicate clustering effects of more detailed particle-based dynamics. Inspired by membrane-mediated receptor dynamics on cell surfaces, we formulate a stochastic particle-based model for diffusion and pairwise interaction of particles, leading to intriguing clustering phenomena. Employing numerical simulation and cluster detection methods, we explore the approximation of the particle-based clustering dynamics through mean-field approaches. We find that SPDEs successfully reproduce spatiotemporal clustering dynamics, not only in the initial cluster formation period, but also on longer time scales where the successive merging of clusters cannot be tracked by deterministic mean-field models. The computational efficiency of the SPDE approach allows us to generate extensive statistical data for parameter estimation in a simpler model that uses a Markov jump process to capture the temporal evolution of the cluster number.

q-bio.QM↗