Publications

You can also find these papers on Google Scholar, ORCID and ResearchGate.

✉ corresponding author † alphabetical order

2026

Mutual Linearity in Nonlinear Population Dynamics

S. Liang✉

Preprint · arXiv:2611.14501 · 2026

A five-species community in which species 3 is changed in three ways: a press on its growth rate r3, its self-regulation A33 and its response A31 to species 1. An arrow labelled s leads to a plot of abundances x2, x3 and x4 against x1, where the equilibria of all three changes fall on the same straight lines through the unperturbed equilibrium.

However one species in an ecological community is changed, and by however much, all abundances shift along a straight line that bends only where species go extinct.

@misc{liang2026mutual-linearity,
  title         = {Mutual Linearity in Nonlinear Population Dynamics},
  author        = {Liang, Shiling},
  year          = {2026},
  eprint        = {2611.14501},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  primaryClass  = {cond-mat.stat-mech},
  url           = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.14501}
}

Thermodynamic Space of Chemical Reaction Networks

S. Liang✉, P. De Los Rios & D. M. Busiello✉

Phys. Rev. X 16, 041026 · 2026

Sketch of a reaction network driven by fuel F and waste W, next to a 3D plot of concentrations x1, x2, x3 in which a green region, the thermodynamic space, meets a yellow conservation-law plane.

Thermodynamically accessible phase space for (non-equilibrium) chemical reaction networks at stationarity.

@article{liang2026thermodynamic-space,
  title         = {Thermodynamic Space of Chemical Reaction Networks},
  author        = {Liang, Shiling and De Los Rios, Paolo and Busiello, Daniel Maria},
  journal       = {Physical Review X},
  volume        = {16},
  number        = {4},
  pages         = {041026},
  year          = {2026},
  doi           = {10.1103/g875-ldn5},
  eprint        = {2407.11498},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv}
}

Exact Finite Response of Higher-Order Statistics in Nonequilibrium Networks

R. Bao✉ & S. Liang✉

Chin. Phys. Lett. 43, 100002 · 2026 · Letter

Four-state gene-regulation scheme in which a kinase uses ATP to activate a transcription factor at a promoter; below, as the control strength grows, the variance ratio falls to about 0.22 and the response resolution rises to about 1.04.

Exact relations for how the noise and every higher cumulant of a steady-state observable respond to a local perturbation of any strength, controlled by a single kinetic parameter.

@article{bao2026higher-order,
  title   = {Exact Finite Response of Higher-Order Statistics in Nonequilibrium Networks},
  author  = {Bao, Ruicheng and Liang, Shiling},
  journal = {Chinese Physics Letters},
  volume  = {43},
  number  = {10},
  pages   = {100002},
  year    = {2026},
  doi     = {10.1088/0256-307X/43/10/100002}
}

Exact First-Passage Time Response Theory from Steady-State Response

R. Bao✉ & S. Liang✉

Preprint · arXiv:2608.11202 · 2026

Network of seven circular states; a blue path leads from a grey start state to a double-circled target, and a red arrow labelled fast reset returns from the target to the start.

Exact relations for how the mean completion time responds to a change of any single rate, however strong, from an exact map between first passage and a steady state.

@misc{bao2026fpt-response,
  title         = {Exact First-Passage Time Response Theory from Steady-State Response},
  author        = {Bao, Ruicheng and Liang, Shiling},
  year          = {2026},
  eprint        = {2608.11202},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  primaryClass  = {cond-mat.stat-mech},
  url           = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.11202}
}

A Universal Control Budget for First-Passage Kinetics

S. Liang✉ & R. Bao✉

Preprint · arXiv:2608.06368 · 2026

Chain from source A through M to target B with rates k_a, k_w and k_b; below, a line from −1 to +1 marks the sensitivities s_b, s_a and s_w, with forbidden regions outside and the rules |s_e| ≤ 1 and sum of s_e = −1.

A conserved control budget bounds how the completion time of any Markov chain responds to each rate, capping how sharply kinetic proofreading can discriminate between substrates.

@misc{liang2026control-budget,
  title         = {A Universal Control Budget for First-Passage Kinetics},
  author        = {Liang, Shiling and Bao, Ruicheng},
  year          = {2026},
  eprint        = {2608.06368},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  primaryClass  = {cond-mat.stat-mech},
  url           = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.06368}
}

Non-equilibrium symmetry of cyclic first-passage times

D. M. Busiello✉, S. Liang✉ & S. Pigolotti✉ †

New J. Phys. 28, 064602 · 2026

Watercolor network of orange states with dashed red clockwise and blue counterclockwise first-passage paths through states i, j and k, beside the relation p_CW(τ, s)/p_CCW(τ, −s) = e^s.

A fluctuation theorem for cyclic first-passage times, providing a new indicator for detecting nonequilibrium in complex systems.

@article{busiello2026cyclic-fpt,
  title         = {Non-equilibrium symmetry of cyclic first-passage times},
  author        = {Busiello, Daniel Maria and Liang, Shiling and Pigolotti, Simone},
  journal       = {New Journal of Physics},
  volume        = {28},
  number        = {6},
  pages         = {064602},
  year          = {2026},
  doi           = {10.1088/1367-2630/ae6fde},
  eprint        = {2601.18136},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv}
}

2025

Stochastic thermodynamics for biological functions

Y. Cao✉ & S. Liang✉

Quant. Biol. 13, e75 · 2025 · Review

Many noisy trajectories X(t) drifting upward; at time τ a dashed line marks their mean and a vertical bar their spread, the square root of the variance.

A review of recent advances in stochastic thermodynamics and their application to biological functions.

@article{cao2025stochastic-thermodynamics,
  title   = {Stochastic thermodynamics for biological functions},
  author  = {Cao, Yuansheng and Liang, Shiling},
  journal = {Quantitative Biology},
  volume  = {13},
  number  = {1},
  pages   = {e75},
  year    = {2025},
  doi     = {10.1002/qub2.75}
}

Minimal Model for Carnot Efficiency at Maximum Power

S. Liang✉, Y.-H. Ma✉, D. M. Busiello & P. De Los Rios

Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 027101 · 2025 · Letter

Hand-drawn power versus efficiency curves that grow taller as degeneracy increases, with the efficiency at maximum power, marked by diamonds, moving toward the Carnot efficiency.

A minimal model reveals the attainability of Carnot efficiency at maximum power.

arXiv
Journal
PDF
Press: Phys.org, Interesting Engineering, South China Morning Post

@article{liang2025carnot,
  title         = {Minimal Model for {Carnot} Efficiency at Maximum Power},
  author        = {Liang, Shiling and Ma, Yu-Han and Busiello, Daniel Maria and De Los Rios, Paolo},
  journal       = {Physical Review Letters},
  volume        = {134},
  number        = {2},
  pages         = {027101},
  year          = {2025},
  doi           = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.027101},
  eprint        = {2312.02323},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv}
}

2024

Nonlinear Response Identities and Bounds for Nonequilibrium Steady States

R. Bao✉ & S. Liang✉

Preprint · arXiv:2412.19602 · 2024

House-shaped network of five states showing three local perturbations: one rate scaled by e^(−ΔX), both directions of an edge scaled together, and all rates leaving a vertex scaled by e^(ΔX).

Equalities and bounds for the (nonequilibrium) nonlinear response of Markov chains under strong perturbation.

@misc{bao2024nonlinear-response,
  title         = {Nonlinear Response Identities and Bounds for Nonequilibrium Steady States},
  author        = {Bao, Ruicheng and Liang, Shiling},
  year          = {2024},
  eprint        = {2412.19602},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  primaryClass  = {cond-mat.stat-mech},
  url           = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.19602}
}

Thermodynamic Bounds on Symmetry Breaking in Linear and Catalytic Biochemical Systems

S. Liang✉, P. De Los Rios & D. M. Busiello✉

Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 228402 · 2024 · Letter

ATP-driven two-species reaction scheme; pattern contrast staying below the bound tanh(βΔμ/2) as the driving grows; and a shaded nonequilibrium region in the (u, v) concentration plane with the reactive nullcline and the flux-balance line.

Network geometry reveals universal thermodynamic bounds in various biochemical systems, ranging from the error rate of kinetic proofreading to the contrast of reaction-diffusion patterns.

@article{liang2024symmetry-breaking,
  title         = {Thermodynamic Bounds on Symmetry Breaking in Linear and Catalytic Biochemical Systems},
  author        = {Liang, Shiling and De Los Rios, Paolo and Busiello, Daniel Maria},
  journal       = {Physical Review Letters},
  volume        = {132},
  number        = {22},
  pages         = {228402},
  year          = {2024},
  doi           = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.228402},
  eprint        = {2212.12074},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv}
}

2023

Thermodynamic bounds on time-reversal asymmetry

S. Liang & S. Pigolotti

Phys. Rev. E 108, L062101 · 2023 · Letter

Network of hidden states on a dark background with two visible states i and j, next to a plot in which the time-reversal asymmetry lies below a diagonal bound set by the total cycle affinity.

Temporally coarse-grained measures of time-reversal asymmetry can be used to infer non-equilibrium driving forces.

@article{liang2023time-reversal,
  title         = {Thermodynamic bounds on time-reversal asymmetry},
  author        = {Liang, Shiling and Pigolotti, Simone},
  journal       = {Physical Review E},
  volume        = {108},
  number        = {6},
  pages         = {L062101},
  year          = {2023},
  doi           = {10.1103/PhysRevE.108.L062101},
  eprint        = {2308.14497},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv}
}

2022

Emergent thermophoretic behavior in chemical reaction systems

S. Liang, D. M. Busiello & P. De Los Rios✉

New J. Phys. 24, 123006 · 2022

Monomers and dimers interconverting in a channel that is cold (blue) on the left and warm (red) on the right, with concentration profiles showing dimers and the total concentration higher on the cold side.

Thermophoretic behavior can emerge from reaction-diffusion systems.

@article{liang2022thermophoresis,
  title         = {Emergent thermophoretic behavior in chemical reaction systems},
  author        = {Liang, Shiling and Busiello, Daniel Maria and De Los Rios, Paolo},
  journal       = {New Journal of Physics},
  volume        = {24},
  number        = {12},
  pages         = {123006},
  year          = {2022},
  doi           = {10.1088/1367-2630/aca556},
  eprint        = {2102.03197},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv}
}

2021

Dissipation-Driven Selection under Finite Diffusion: Hints from Equilibrium and Separation of Time Scales

S. Liang, P. De Los Rios & D. M. Busiello✉

Entropy 23, 1068 · 2021

Selection ratio R_BA versus energy barrier ε for finite and infinite diffusion, with network sketches as insets; below, a two-state energy landscape split between a cold blue box and a warm red box, and the critical barrier ε_d falling linearly with log(d/k0).

Separation of time scales helps us understand dissipation-driven selection.

@article{liang2021finite-diffusion,
  title         = {Dissipation-Driven Selection under Finite Diffusion: Hints from Equilibrium and Separation of Time Scales},
  author        = {Liang, Shiling and De Los Rios, Paolo and Busiello, Daniel Maria},
  journal       = {Entropy},
  volume        = {23},
  number        = {8},
  pages         = {1068},
  year          = {2021},
  doi           = {10.3390/e23081068},
  eprint        = {2108.05221},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv}
}

Equilibrium and non-equilibrium furanose selection in the ribose isomerisation network

A. V. Dass, T. Georgelin, F. Westall, F. Foucher, P. De Los Rios, D. M. Busiello, S. Liang & F. Piazza✉

Nat. Commun. 12, 2749 · 2021

$Normalized furanose fraction rising and pyranose fraction falling with the transport rate for three temperature gradients; below, hand-drawn energy landscapes of a hot and a cold compartment linked by currents J_F and J_P.$

A temperature gradient can boost the selection of furanose beyond its equilibrium limit.

@article{dass2021furanose,
  title         = {Equilibrium and non-equilibrium furanose selection in the ribose isomerisation network},
  author        = {Dass, Avinash Vicholous and Georgelin, Thomas and Westall, Frances and Foucher, Fr{\'e}d{\'e}ric and De Los Rios, Paolo and Busiello, Daniel Maria and Liang, Shiling and Piazza, Francesco},
  journal       = {Nature Communications},
  volume        = {12},
  number        = {1},
  pages         = {2749},
  year          = {2021},
  doi           = {10.1038/s41467-021-22818-5},
  eprint        = {2010.13188},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv}
}

Dissipation-driven selection of states in non-equilibrium chemical networks

D. M. Busiello✉, S. Liang, F. Piazza & P. De Los Rios

Commun. Chem. 4, 16 · 2021

Three-state energy landscape copied in a hot red box and a cold blue box connected by diffusion; below, log R_CB rising with the diffusion coefficient and peaking at an optimal temperature difference.

Chemical reaction networks with kinetic asymmetry can harvest thermal energy to break symmetry in chemical space.

@article{busiello2021dissipation,
  title         = {Dissipation-driven selection of states in non-equilibrium chemical networks},
  author        = {Busiello, Daniel Maria and Liang, Shiling and Piazza, Francesco and De Los Rios, Paolo},
  journal       = {Communications Chemistry},
  volume        = {4},
  number        = {1},
  pages         = {16},
  year          = {2021},
  doi           = {10.1038/s42004-021-00454-w},
  eprint        = {1912.04642},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv}
}