Tracking Cluster Continuity and Dynamics in Time-Series Data: Application to Chromatin Polymer Simulations

Abstract

This study presents an enhanced method for analyzing cluster dynamics, with a particular focus on tracking clusters' continuity over time using time-series data from molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The proposed method was applied to spatio-temporal cluster data obtained from a non-equilibrium MD simulation of a chromatin polymer model. In this model, clusters are formed on the polymer by binding molecules that stochastically and temporarily bind to the polymer segments at finite rates. Our analysis successfully tracked the dynamics of clusters, including merging and splitting events, and revealed that clusters exhibit a percolation transition in both spatial and temporal domains. This suggests that clusters in the chromatin polymer model can persist even under finite rates of attractive interactions, demonstrating that the method can capture complex cluster dynamics over time.