[2608.14458] Length scale of cellular activity determines signatures of epithelial remodeling Skip to main content Search Submit Donate Log in Search arXiv Press Enter to search · Advanced search Physics > Biological Physics arXiv:2608.14458 (physics) [Submitted on 14 Aug 2026] Title: Length scale of cellular activity determines signatures of epithelial remodeling Authors: Sahil Islam , Anupam Gupta , Mohd. Suhail Rizvi View a PDF of the paper titled Length scale of cellular activity determines signatures of epithelial remodeling, by Sahil Islam and 2 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract: Cellular activity drives epithelial fluidization --- a widespread phenomenon observed during tissue development, remodeling, and repair both in vivo and in vitro. Yet the physical origins and spatial organization of active forces vary widely across biological systems and are often represented by a single generic mechanism in theoretical models. Here, using an active vertex model, we systematically compare four modes of epithelial activity spanning subcellular to tissue scales: apolar motility, polar motility, fluctuating contractility, and mechanochemical regulation. Although all four mechanisms drive the same global transition from a solid-like rectangular tissue to a fluid-like circular morphology, they reach this state through distinct pathways --- differing in the rates and topology of junctional rearrangements, cell elimination, and collective motion and leave distinguishable signatures in tissue architecture, cell dynamics, and mechanical relaxation. Among these observables, spatial velocity correlations directly capture the spatial organization of activity: their correlation length and functional form together resolve all four mechanisms. The robustness of these signatures across activity strengths suggests that spatial velocity correlations offer an experimentally accessible means of identifying the physical origin of epithelial activity from live-cell imaging alone. Comments: 22 pages, 5 figures, 3 S.I. figures Subjects: Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph) ; Cell Behavior (q-bio.CB) Cite as: arXiv:2608.14458 [physics.bio-ph] (or arXiv:2608.14458v1 [physics.bio-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.14458 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Submission history From: Sahil Islam [ view email ] [v1] Fri, 14 Aug 2026 16:41:27 UTC (4,567 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Length scale of cellular activity determines signatures of epithelial remodeling, by Sahil Islam and 2 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) TeX Source view license Current browse context: physics.bio-ph < prev | next > new | recent | 2026-08 Change to browse by: physics q-bio q-bio.CB References & Citations NASA ADS Google Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer ( What is the Explorer? ) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers ( What is Connected Papers? ) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps ( What is Litmaps? ) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations ( What are Smart Citations? ) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv ( What is alphaXiv? ) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers ( What is CatalyzeX? ) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub ( What is DagsHub? ) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub ( What is GotitPub? ) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face ( What is Huggingface? ) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast ( What is ScienceCast? ) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate ( What is Replicate? ) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces ( What is Spaces? ) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI ( What is TXYZ.AI? ) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower ( What are Influence Flowers? ) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender ( What is CORE? ) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs . Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax ( What is MathJax? ) We gratefully acknowledge support from our major funders , member institutions , , and all contributors. About · Help · Contact · Subscribe · Copyright · Privacy · Accessibility · Operational Status (opens in new tab) Major funding support from