Category: Ecology

Summary: Testing whether a resource gradient can rescue exchange tolerance in compartmentalized hypercycles.

Hypercycles are self-replicating chemical networks proposed as a step in the origin of life. Compartmentalization (grouping molecules into protocells) protects hypercycles from parasites, but exchange between compartments can destroy this protection.

This experiment tests whether a smooth gradient in compartment capacity (some compartments richer than others) can rescue exchange tolerance — allowing more inter-compartment exchange before the protective localized mode delocalizes.

The hypothesis bridges compartmentalized hypercycle theory with resource-gradient models of protocells, mapping whether spatial asymmetry creates a fundamentally different exchange tolerance regime.

Method: GPU dense Jacobian eigensolve with iterative deepening. Fixed capacity gradient, bisection on exchange strength.

What is measured: Critical exchange tolerance with and without gradient, rescue ratio, delocalization threshold.