Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 27, 2026

A High-throughput Cell Microarray Platform for Correlative Analysis of Cell Differentiation and Traction Forces
Published on: March 1, 2017
Universal scaling of wave propagation failure in arrays of coupled nonlinear cells
1Theoretical Division and Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
Abstract:
We study the onset of the propagation failure of wave fronts in systems of coupled cells. We introduce a new method to analyze the scaling of the critical external field at which fronts cease to propagate, as a function of intercellular coupling. We find the universal scaling of the field throughout the range of couplings and show that the field becomes exponentially small for large couplings. Our method is generic and applicable to a wide class of cellular dynamics in chemical, biological, and engineering systems. We confirm our results by direct numerical simulations.
Related Concept Videos
Propagation of Waves
Consider a scenario where a wave propagates from a string of low linear mass density to a string of high linear mass density. In such a case, the reflected wave is out of phase with respect to the incident wave, however the...
Scaling
Generalized Hooke's Law
Linear Approximation in Frequency Domain
In contrast, nonlinear systems do not inherently possess these properties. However, for small deviations around an operating point, a nonlinear system can often be approximated as linear.
Traveling Waves: Lossless Lines
Typical Model Studies

