Avalanches in the lung: A statistical mechanical model

Details Avalanches in the lung: A statistical mechanical model Avalanches in the lung: A statistical mechanical model

1996-02-08

arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/9602046v1

Physics

Condensed Matter

4 pages, Figures avaliable by mail from alb@nd.edu, REVTEX

Scientific paper

10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.2192

We study a statistical mechanical model for the dynamics of lung inflation which incorporates recent experimental observations on the opening of individual airways by a cascade or avalanche mechanism. Using an exact mapping of the avalanche problem onto percolation on a Cayley tree, we analytically derive the exponents describing the size distribution of the first avalanches and test the analytical solution by numerical simulations. We find that the tree-like structure of the airways together with the simplest assumptions concerning opening threshold pressures of each airway, is sufficient to explain the existence of power-law distributions observed experimentally.

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