Fronts with continuous waiting-time distributions: theory and application to virus infections.
We generalize to arbitrary waiting-time distributions some results which were previously derived for discrete distributions. We show that for any two waiting-time distributions with the same mean delay time, that with higher dispersion will lead to a faster front. Experimental data on the speed of virus infections in a plaque are correctly explained by the theoretical predictions using a Gaussian delay-time distribution, which is more realistic for this system than the Dirac delta distribution considered previously [J. Fort and V. Méndez, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 178101 (2002)].
Fort
J
J
Departament de Física, Universitat de Girona, Campus de Montilivi, 17071 Girona, Catalonia, Spain.
Pérez
J
J
Ubeda
E
E
García
F J
FJ
D000818:Animals; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000502:physiology* / Q000821:virology*; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000821:virology; D007700:Kinetics; D008954:Models, Biological; D013997:Time Factors; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000502:physiology*