Morphological instability of an invasive active-passive interface

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Sinha, Sumit, Yang, Haiqian, Mahadevan, L
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Sinha, Sumit
Yang, Haiqian
Mahadevan, L
author_facet Sinha, Sumit
Yang, Haiqian
Mahadevan, L
contents Morphological instabilities of growing tissues that impinge on passive materials are typical of invasive cancers. To explain these instabilities in experiments on breast epithelial spheroids in an extracellular matrix, we develop a continuum phase field model of a growing active liquid expanding into a passive viscoelastic matrix. Linear stability analysis of the sharp-interface limit of the governing equations predicts that the tissue interface can develops long-wavelength instabilities, but these instabilities are suppressed when the active carcinoid is embedded in an elastic matrix. We develop a theoretical morphological phase diagram, and complement these with two-dimensional finite element (FEM) phase-field simulations to track the nonlinear evolution of the interface with results consistent with theoretical predictions and experimental observations. Our study provides a basis for the emergence of interfacial instabilities in active-passive systems with the potential to control them.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_10375
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Morphological instability of an invasive active-passive interface
Sinha, Sumit
Yang, Haiqian
Mahadevan, L
Soft Condensed Matter
Tissues and Organs
Morphological instabilities of growing tissues that impinge on passive materials are typical of invasive cancers. To explain these instabilities in experiments on breast epithelial spheroids in an extracellular matrix, we develop a continuum phase field model of a growing active liquid expanding into a passive viscoelastic matrix. Linear stability analysis of the sharp-interface limit of the governing equations predicts that the tissue interface can develops long-wavelength instabilities, but these instabilities are suppressed when the active carcinoid is embedded in an elastic matrix. We develop a theoretical morphological phase diagram, and complement these with two-dimensional finite element (FEM) phase-field simulations to track the nonlinear evolution of the interface with results consistent with theoretical predictions and experimental observations. Our study provides a basis for the emergence of interfacial instabilities in active-passive systems with the potential to control them.
title Morphological instability of an invasive active-passive interface
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Tissues and Organs
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.10375