Dissipation, geometry, and the stability of the dense radial morphology

The dense radial morphology appears in a number of systems undergoing branched growth. Neither ordered nor fractal, this pattern is characterized by a large number of branches radiating from a central seed and advancing behind a circular envelope. We propose a model for dense radial growth which self-consistently incorporates dissipation in the growth channels. A linear stability analysis of this model delimits conditions under which the dense radial morphology can develop. Predictions of this model are borne out by numerical simlations of evolving resistor bond networks.