Geometric methods in mathematical physiology. This project will develop new geometric methods for the analysis of multiple-scales models of physiological rhythms and patterns, and will design diagnostic tools to identify key parameters that cause and control these signals. Thus, this project will deliver powerful mathematics for detecting and understanding fundamental issues of physiological systems.
New Directions in Non-linear Mathematical Asymptotics. Major challenges such as predicting epidemics or modelling cancer rely on our understanding of simple mathematical models with extremely complicated solutions. The first and only model in the literature to reproduce the three-phase cycle of immune response in HIV/AIDS was based on cellular automata. Its results are extremely sensitive to infinitesimally small changes in parameters. Yet, no technique exists to study such variation in cellular ....New Directions in Non-linear Mathematical Asymptotics. Major challenges such as predicting epidemics or modelling cancer rely on our understanding of simple mathematical models with extremely complicated solutions. The first and only model in the literature to reproduce the three-phase cycle of immune response in HIV/AIDS was based on cellular automata. Its results are extremely sensitive to infinitesimally small changes in parameters. Yet, no technique exists to study such variation in cellular automata. This research will provide new methods for prediction and analysis of such models. Read moreRead less
What predictions can I trust? Stability of chaotic random dynamical systems. This project aims to make significant progress on the intricate question of global stability of non-autonomous chaotic dynamical systems. Using ergodic theory, this project expects to determine when and how errors in dynamical models that are small and frequent, or large and infrequent, can cause dramatic changes in meaningful mathematical model outputs. Expected outcomes include the discovery of mathematical mechanisms ....What predictions can I trust? Stability of chaotic random dynamical systems. This project aims to make significant progress on the intricate question of global stability of non-autonomous chaotic dynamical systems. Using ergodic theory, this project expects to determine when and how errors in dynamical models that are small and frequent, or large and infrequent, can cause dramatic changes in meaningful mathematical model outputs. Expected outcomes include the discovery of mathematical mechanisms underlying large-scale (in)stability for time-dependent dynamical systems, and reliable numerical methods for detecting instabilities. This research is expected to lead to improved characterisations of shocks or collapse in externally driven dynamical systems and assist scientists to gauge which predictions they can trust.Read moreRead less
Modern mathematics to unravel the birth of coherence in dynamical systems. This project aims to reveal the precise mathematical mechanisms underlying the emergence and disappearance of long-lived coherent features in dynamical systems. This project expects to generate new fundamental mathematics in the area of dynamical systems, using innovative operator-theoretic approaches to carefully tease apart the lifecycles of coherent structures. The expected outcomes of this project include new mathemat ....Modern mathematics to unravel the birth of coherence in dynamical systems. This project aims to reveal the precise mathematical mechanisms underlying the emergence and disappearance of long-lived coherent features in dynamical systems. This project expects to generate new fundamental mathematics in the area of dynamical systems, using innovative operator-theoretic approaches to carefully tease apart the lifecycles of coherent structures. The expected outcomes of this project include new mathematical theory and computational algorithms to anticipate the genesis and destruction of coherent objects, which are key organisers of complex geophysical flows. This breakthrough mathematics should provide significant benefits, such as improved prediction of eddy transport and persistence of weather and climate patterns.Read moreRead less
New mathematics to quantify fluctuations and extremes in dynamical systems. Many problems in the natural world result from the cumulative effect of extreme events in complex dynamical systems. Dynamical models of ecological and physical processes have internal variables that can combine to produce large observable changes. Quantitative estimation of the variability of these chaotic models is difficult because of the time dependence of the dynamics and their “long memory” due to significant deter ....New mathematics to quantify fluctuations and extremes in dynamical systems. Many problems in the natural world result from the cumulative effect of extreme events in complex dynamical systems. Dynamical models of ecological and physical processes have internal variables that can combine to produce large observable changes. Quantitative estimation of the variability of these chaotic models is difficult because of the time dependence of the dynamics and their “long memory” due to significant deterministic components. This project aims to develop mathematics and numerics to accurately quantify and assess these complicated variations. The project expects to provide powerful tools to predict harmful outcomes in biogeophysical systems, and assist with the development of mitigation strategies.Read moreRead less
A Novel Geometric Approach to Shocks in Reaction-Nonlinear Diffusion Models. Reaction-nonlinear diffusion models play a vital role in the study of cell migration and population dynamics. However, the presence of aggregation, or backward diffusion, leads to the formation of shock waves - distinct, sharp interfaces between different populations of densities of cells - and the breakdown of the model. This project will develop new geometric methods to explain the formation and temporal evolution of ....A Novel Geometric Approach to Shocks in Reaction-Nonlinear Diffusion Models. Reaction-nonlinear diffusion models play a vital role in the study of cell migration and population dynamics. However, the presence of aggregation, or backward diffusion, leads to the formation of shock waves - distinct, sharp interfaces between different populations of densities of cells - and the breakdown of the model. This project will develop new geometric methods to explain the formation and temporal evolution of these shock waves, while simultaneously unifying existing regularisation techniques under a single, geometric banner. It will devise innovative tools in singular perturbation theory and stability analysis that will identify key parameters in the creation of shock waves, as well as their dynamic behaviour.Read moreRead less
A geometric theory for travelling waves in advection-reaction-diffusion models. Cell migration patterns often develop distinct sharp interfaces between identifiably different cell populations within a tissue. This research will develop new geometric methods for the mathematical analysis of cell migration models, and will design diagnostic tools to identify key parameters that cause and control these patterns and interfaces.
New Frontiers and Advances in Discrete Integrable Systems. Integrable systems boast a long and venerable history, and have such famous members as the Kepler system, the Korteweg-de Vries equation, and the sine-Gordon equation. More recently, interest in integrable systems has expanded to include systems with discrete time, that is, ordinary difference equations (or maps) and integrable partial difference equations. These discrete integrable systems are arguably more fundamental than the continuo ....New Frontiers and Advances in Discrete Integrable Systems. Integrable systems boast a long and venerable history, and have such famous members as the Kepler system, the Korteweg-de Vries equation, and the sine-Gordon equation. More recently, interest in integrable systems has expanded to include systems with discrete time, that is, ordinary difference equations (or maps) and integrable partial difference equations. These discrete integrable systems are arguably more fundamental than the continuous-time ones. Based upon recent breakthroughs this study will combine analysis, geometry, and computer algebra to expand and systematise this new interdisciplinary field of discrete integrable systems.Read moreRead less
Extracting macroscopic variables and their dynamics in multiscale systems with metastable states. There are practical barriers to the simulation of complex systems such as molecular systems and the climate system because of the high-dimensionality of the models and the presence of multiscale dynamics. This project will lift these barriers by uncovering the most relevant variables and by creating innovative multiscale simulation algorithms.
A geometric theory for non-standard relaxation oscillators. This project aims to develop new geometric methods for the analysis of multi-scale models of biological rhythms, and design diagnostic tools to identify key parameters that cause and control these signals. Rhythms, such as breathing, neural and cardiac rhythms and pulsatile hormone secretion, are central for life. Many important biochemical cell signals exhibiting relaxation-type behaviour cannot be rigorously analysed with standard dy ....A geometric theory for non-standard relaxation oscillators. This project aims to develop new geometric methods for the analysis of multi-scale models of biological rhythms, and design diagnostic tools to identify key parameters that cause and control these signals. Rhythms, such as breathing, neural and cardiac rhythms and pulsatile hormone secretion, are central for life. Many important biochemical cell signals exhibiting relaxation-type behaviour cannot be rigorously analysed with standard dynamical systems tools due to an inherent non-uniform time-scale splitting in these models. This project aims to develop a unified mathematical theory that weaves together results from geometric singular perturbation theory and algebraic geometry to explain the genesis of complex rhythms and patterns in biological, non-standard, multi-scale systems, both at individual and network level.Read moreRead less