Vitelli Group
Information-processing agents — including humans, bots, cells, and even individual molecules — all possess the capacity for adaptive, intelligent behavior. Our research centers on a basic question: what laws emerge when many such agents interact? To uncover the dynamics of these agentic many-body systems, we combine data-driven, interpretable machine learning with principled tools from theoretical physics, notably generalized symmetries and conservation laws. The robustness of our mathematical models is baked directly into their underlying geometric and topological architecture. We put these abstract frameworks to test through minimalist in-house experiments and collaborations with engineering, physics, and biology laboratories worldwide.
Selected Preprints
- Inertial Asynchronous Computation, D. E. Gökmen, M. Fruchart, D. Zendrikov, G. Indiveri, G. Biroli, V. Vitelli, arXiv:2607.21965.
- Informational blueprints reveal condition-dependent gene regulatory architectures, D. E. Gökmen, R. W. Pan, T. Röschinger, S. Quake, H. Garcia, R. Phillips, V. Vitelli, arXiv:2605.19071.
- Odd stochastic density functional theory , Y. Avni, M. Fruchart, D. Martin, T. Khain, V. Vitelli, arXiv:2609.32080.
- Discovering and decoding latent mean-field structure with variational autoencoders, M. Biroli, M. Welling, V. Vitelli, arXiv:2606.08694.
- Natural Selection in the Wake of Catastrophe, J. Y. Lin, O. Granek, J. Sodicoff, S. Kuehn, D. Pincus, V. Vitelli, arXiv:2606.09040.
- Learning functional groups in complex microbiomes, M. S. Schmitt, K. Lee, F. Bunbury, J. A. Landsittel, V. Vitelli, S. Kuehn, bioRxiv.
- Odd wave turbulence, X. M. de Wit, L. Touzo, S. Galtier, M. Fruchart, F. Toschi, V. Vitelli, arXiv:2504.15403.
- Learning noisy tissue dynamics across time scales, M. Han, J. Devany, M. Fruchart, M. L. Gardel, V. Vitelli, arXiv:2510.19090.
- Chirality across scales in tissue dynamics, S. Chen, D. E. Gökmen, M. Fruchart, M. Krumbein, P. Silberzan, V. Yashunsky, V. Vitelli, arXiv:2506.12276.
- Learning a conserved mechanism for early neuroectoderm morphogenesis, M. F. Lefebvre, J. Colen, N. H. Claussen, F. Brauns, M. K. Raich, N. Mitchell, M. Fruchart, V. Vitelli, S. J. Streichan, bioRxiv.
Selected Publications
- Sociohydrodynamics: data-driven modelling of social behavior, D. S. Seara, J. Colen, M, Fruchart, Y. Avni, D. Martin, V. Vitelli, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122, (35) e2508692122 (2025),
- Adaptive locomotion of active solids, J. Veenstra, C. Scheibner, M. Brandenbourger, J. Binysh, A. Souslov, V. Vitelli, C. Coulais, Nature 639, (2025).
- Pattern formation by turbulent cascades, X. M. de Wit, M. Fruchart, T. Khain, F. Toschi, V. Vitelli, Nature 627, (2024)
- Machine learning interpretable models of cell mechanics from protein images, M. S. Schmitt, J. Colen, S. Sala, J. Devany, S. Seetharaman, M. L. Gardel, P. W. Oakes, V. Vitelli, Cell, 187(2), (2024),
- Non-reciprocal phase transitions, M. Fruchart, R. Hanai, P. B. Littlewood, V. Vitelli, Nature 592, (2021).
- Dualities and non-Abelian mechanics, M. Fruchart, Y. Zhou, V. Vitelli, Nature 577, (2020).
- Odd elasticity, C. Scheibner, A. Souslov, D. Banerjee, P. Surówka, W. T. M. Irvine, V. Vitelli, Nature Physics 16, (2020).
- Fluctuating hydrodynamics of chiral active fluids, M. Han, M. Fruchart, C. Scheibner, S. Vaikuntanathan, J. J. de Pablo, V. Vitelli, Nature Physics 17, (2021).
- Topological sound in active-liquid metamaterials, A. Souslov, B. C. van Zuiden, D. Bartolo, V. Vitelli, Nature Physics 13, (2017).
- Topological modes bound to dislocations in mechanical metamaterials, J. Paulose, B. G. Chen, V. Vitelli, Nature Physics 11, (2015).
- Nonlinear conduction via solitons in a topological mechanical insulator, B. G. Chen, N. Upadhyaya, V. Vitelli, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111, (2014).
