Dynamics of HIV Infection: An entropic–energetic view

Ramón E.R. González, P.H. Figueirêdo and S. Coutinho

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2020, vol. 551, issue C

Abstract: We propose a time-parametrized analogy between the thermodynamic behavior of a 3-level energy system and the progression of the HIV infection described by the cell population evolution generated by an appropriated cellular automata model. The development of internal energy and its fluctuations, and of the entropy of the 3-level energy system allows the identification of an effective temperature that uniquely characterizes the three main stages of the dynamic process of HIV infection (primary infection, clinical latency, and development of AIDS). Furthermore, this thermodynamical equivalence allows obtaining the instants associated with particular time intervals of the evolution of internal energy and entropy, which are not quantitatively accessible by the usual dynamic models based on differential equations or cellular automata. The maximum entropy point, which marks the threshold between the states of positive and negative temperatures, also corresponds to the onset of the immune system’s exhaustion and the concomitant and inexorable progression to AIDS. Such point lies in the time interval where the energy inversion mechanisms in the populations of non-infected and infected cells occur. This time lag is also characterized by considerable fluctuations of the internal energy when different (patient) samples are compared.

Keywords: HIV infection; Dynamics of evolution; Entropic–energetic description; Cellular automata (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:551:y:2020:i:c:s0378437120300601

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2020.124239

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