Title: Multi-scale approach for a model of tumor growth: from short-range repulsion to Hele-Shaw problems
Abstract: In this talk, we investigate the multi-scale link for a model of tumor growth. We start from a microscopic model where cells are modelled as 2D spheres undergoing short range repulsion and cell division. We derive the associated macroscopic dynamics leading to a porous media type equation. As the macroscopic equation obtained through usual derivation method fails at providing the correct qualitative behavior, we propose a modified version of the macroscopic equation introducing a density threshold for the repulsion. We numerically validate the new formulation by comparing the solutions of the micro- and macro- dynamics. Moreover, we study the asymptotic behavior of the dynamics as the repulsion between cells becomes singular (leading to non-overlapping constraints in the microscopic model). We show formally that such asymptotic limit leads to a Hele-Shaw type problem for the macroscopic dynamics. The numerical simulations reveal an excellent agreement between the micro- and macro- descriptions, validating the formal derivation of the macroscopic model. The macroscopic model derived here therefore enables to overcome the problem of large computational time raised by the microscopic model, but stays closely linked to the microscopic dynamics.
