BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Is there a Newtonian equation for modelling the movements of biolo
 gical organisms? - Rainer Klages (Queen Mary University of London)
DTSTART:20231107T113000Z
DTEND:20231107T120000Z
UID:TALK203230@talks.cam.ac.uk
DESCRIPTION:The Langevin equation is a cornerstone of statistical physics\
 , employing Newton's Second Law to formulate a stochastic process for mode
 lling Brownian motion. It explains the origin of diffusion for a tracer pa
 rticle in a fluid as being passively driven by molecular collisions. A cen
 tury ago Pearson proposed to apply related random walk models for understa
 nding the movements of biological organisms. However\, biological agents m
 ove actively by themselves\, not passively driven by the environment. This
  raises the question of how to properly formulate stochastic models for de
 scribing active biological movements. I will briefly review ordinary Lange
 vin dynamics\, as well as more recent active Brownian particle models. I w
 ill then show how to construct generalised stochastic Langevin equations f
 rom experimental data analysis of biological motion. As an example\, I wil
 l analyse bumblebee flights tracked in a laboratory experiment with and wi
 thout predation threat. Both a fixed laboratory frame and comoving coordin
 ates will be considered for obtaining stochastic models. The comoving mode
 l features three different types of active Brownian motion as special case
 s. This suggests to formulate a generalised Langevin dynamics in the comov
 ing frame for describing the movements of biological organisms. I will dis
 cuss the promise and the open problems of this Langevin-type approach\, fu
 sing movement ecology with active Brownian motion\, especially in view of 
 providing a non-Markovian framework for modelling biological motion.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Newton Institute
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR