Information bounds the robustness of self-organized systems

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Romeo, Nicolas, Martin, David G., Scandolo, Mattia, Fruchart, Michel, Munro, Edwin M., Vitelli, Vincenzo
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Romeo, Nicolas
Martin, David G.
Scandolo, Mattia
Fruchart, Michel
Munro, Edwin M.
Vitelli, Vincenzo
author_facet Romeo, Nicolas
Martin, David G.
Scandolo, Mattia
Fruchart, Michel
Munro, Edwin M.
Vitelli, Vincenzo
contents Self-organized systems, from synthetic nanostructures to developing organisms, are composed of fluctuating units capable of forming robust functional structures despite noise. Here, we ask: are there fundamental bounds on the robustness of noisy self-organized systems? By viewing self-organization as noisy encoding, we prove that the positional information capacity of short-range classical systems with discrete states obeys a bound reminiscent of area laws for quantum information. We illustrate this principle with lattice models whose dynamics is captured by continuum models derived using exact coarse-graining techniques and validated through Dynamical Renormalization Group calculations. The universal bound is saturated by fine-tuning transport coefficients, which can be rationalized in the continuum limit upon considering the effects of boundaries on domain wall dynamics. We illustrate how this limit can be bypassed when long-range correlations are present by investigating a wave-pinning model motivated by biological mechanisms. In this class of models, global constraints reduce the need for fine-tuning by providing effective integral feedback. Our work identifies fundamental limits for the ability of natural and synthetic microsystems to self-assemble into patterns and rationalizes them on purely information-theoretic grounds.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_01682
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Information bounds the robustness of self-organized systems
Romeo, Nicolas
Martin, David G.
Scandolo, Mattia
Fruchart, Michel
Munro, Edwin M.
Vitelli, Vincenzo
Biological Physics
Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
Self-organized systems, from synthetic nanostructures to developing organisms, are composed of fluctuating units capable of forming robust functional structures despite noise. Here, we ask: are there fundamental bounds on the robustness of noisy self-organized systems? By viewing self-organization as noisy encoding, we prove that the positional information capacity of short-range classical systems with discrete states obeys a bound reminiscent of area laws for quantum information. We illustrate this principle with lattice models whose dynamics is captured by continuum models derived using exact coarse-graining techniques and validated through Dynamical Renormalization Group calculations. The universal bound is saturated by fine-tuning transport coefficients, which can be rationalized in the continuum limit upon considering the effects of boundaries on domain wall dynamics. We illustrate how this limit can be bypassed when long-range correlations are present by investigating a wave-pinning model motivated by biological mechanisms. In this class of models, global constraints reduce the need for fine-tuning by providing effective integral feedback. Our work identifies fundamental limits for the ability of natural and synthetic microsystems to self-assemble into patterns and rationalizes them on purely information-theoretic grounds.
title Information bounds the robustness of self-organized systems
topic Biological Physics
Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.01682