Kavli Affiliate: Boris I. Shraiman | Summary:Connecting cell behavior to tissue shape and mechanics is a key challenge in the physics of morphogenesis. Cytoskeletal turnover precludes a fixed reference state, and tensions are actively generated independently of strain; so conventional elasticity theory is not applicable. Here, we study epithelia governed by quasi-static force balance between […]

Kavli Affiliate: Boris I. Shraiman | Summary:Connecting cell behavior to tissue shape and mechanics is a fundamental challenge in the physics of morphogenesis. In epithelia, cell-cell interfaces are under internal active tension, and cytoskeletal turnover precludes a fixed "reference shape" that could anchor conventional elastic theory. This "tension-first" setting calls for a different approach. Here, […]

Kavli Affiliate: Boris I. Shraiman | Summary:In contrast to inert materials, living cells use molecular motors to generate forces independently of elastic strain. How do local active forces translate into large-scale shape, and what are the mechanical properties of the resulting "living matter"? Here, we address these questions within the active tension network (ATN) model […]

Kavli Affiliate: Leon Balents | Summary:We study Gutzwiller-projected wavefunctions for triangular-lattice U(1) Dirac spin liquids in a Zeeman field, where we allow the U(1) gauge field to develop a gauge flux, resulting in (spin-split) spinon Landau levels. We find that at a given magnetization, the optimal candidate state has a finite flux chosen such that […]