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What does the tree of life look like as it grows?
Student-Run Research Seminar| Speaker: | Kevin Hudnall, UC Davis |
| Location: | 2112 MSB |
| Start time: | Wed, May 10 2023, 12:00PM |
Biological theory tells us phylogenetic space is randomly generated, “nested”, and “dualistic” (i.e., transitive between individuals and populations). I will make these notions mathematically precise by specifying a stochastic iterated function system that models the living (i.e., dynamic) tree of life as a system of convexly related unique chains of random variables. Formulated in this manner, the tree of life does not “look like” the tree that grows in soil, but like a (Cantor) dust. The resulting structure is a multifractal. The physical implication is that time becomes a function of biological form. Information theory can be used to measure distances in the multifractal tree of life, thereby capturing the dependence of time on biological form. Implications to the physics of motion are discussed.
Pizza lunch at 11:50am