- Accepted Paper
Data-driven geometric phase in biological locomotion
Phys. Rev. Research - Accepted 2 October, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/qlj7-1kvn
Phys. Rev. Research - Accepted 2 October, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/qlj7-1kvn
Geometric phase quantifies net locomotion in dissipative media via gauge theory, but linking this theoretical quantity to noisy, sparse, and weakly periodic biological shape data is challenging. We develop a theory-guided, data-driven Koopman autoencoder to recover the limit cycle embedded in imperfect cyclic data and extract shape gaits and geometric phase from sperm and nematode data. We introduce a geometric phase sensitivity function that quantifies responses to shape perturbations and reveals mechanical information using only gauge-theoretic structure, without assuming mechanical laws.
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