Real-Time Interactive Modeling and Simulation in Biological Physics and Active Matter with Mechanica

TL;DR

This paper introduces Mechanica, a software library designed to facilitate real-time interactive modeling and simulation of biological physics and active matter, addressing key challenges in specifying models and tuning parameters.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel software library that enables easier specification and simulation of biological and active matter systems, advancing the application of modeling and simulation in these fields.

Findings

Mechanica supports real-time interactive simulations.

The library simplifies model specification for biological systems.

It aids in parameter tuning and optimization.

Abstract

Modeling and simulation (M&S) has revolutionized the way modern engineered products are designed, tested and evaluated. Yet modeling and simulation is much less frequently applied in the study of natural biological and active matter systems. Two of the greatest challenges in applying M\&S approaches to natural biological systems are (1) difficulty in specifying a model, and developing a simulation from it, and (2) tuning and optimizing parameters. Here we address the first challenge directly, and develop a software library that can lead to progress in the second.