Origin of sub-Arrhenius relaxation in confluent tissue models

Identify the physical origin of the sub-Arrhenius temperature dependence of relaxation time observed in confluent tissue models, such as the Voronoi model and the cellular Potts model, and determine how this behavior depends on the target perimeter parameter p0 and cellular stiffness.

Background

Confluent models of epithelial tissues often show sub-Arrhenius temperature dependence of relaxation times, particularly at larger target perimeter values p0 associated with softer cells, while smaller p0 can yield super-Arrhenius behavior.

Despite these observations across models, a clear mechanistic explanation remains lacking, motivating a targeted investigation.