{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T19:07:45Z","timestamp":1790881665215,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"American Physical Society (APS)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]],"date-time":"2026-09-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788825600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.aps.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Phys. Rev. E"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    We develop a stochastic simplex framework for width partitioning in braided river cross sections, modeling normalized channel widths as random compositional vectors. Two complementary models are introduced: the symmetric Dirichlet distribution, which models width allocation as exchangeable stochastic fluctuations around a uniform baseline with no preferred channel, and the isotropic logistic-normal distribution, which accommodates systematic width concentration through a single scale parameter. Both models carry independent physical content: the Dirichlet characterizes morphodynamic states in which all channels are statistically equivalent, while the logistic-normal identifies and quantifies organized concentration regimes. We derive exact closed-form expressions for the expected concentration index and width concentration fraction under both models, establish a parameter-free structural breakdown criterion, and analyze the temporal evolution of model parameters across 11 annual surveys of the Brahmaputra-Jamuna River (Bangladesh) spanning 1976\u20132007. The analysis reveals a decadal-scale morphodynamic transition: for 1976\u20131985, width is distributed among channels in a statistically uniform fashion consistent with the Dirichlet model. From 1995 onwards, a progressive increase in the logistic-normal scale parameter\n                    <a:math xmlns:a=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1998\/Math\/MathML\">\n                      <a:msup>\n                        <a:mi>\u03c3<\/a:mi>\n                        <a:mo>*<\/a:mo>\n                      <\/a:msup>\n                    <\/a:math>\n                    , optimized independently for each survey year and fitted by a logistic regression (\n                    <b:math xmlns:b=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1998\/Math\/MathML\">\n                      <b:mrow>\n                        <b:msup>\n                          <b:mi>R<\/b:mi>\n                          <b:mn>2<\/b:mn>\n                        <\/b:msup>\n                        <b:mo>=<\/b:mo>\n                        <b:mn>0.997<\/b:mn>\n                      <\/b:mrow>\n                    <\/b:math>\n                    ), indicates systematic growth of channel width concentration. A parameter-free structural breakdown criterion certifies the failure of the Dirichlet model between 1995 and 1999, where the logistic-normal model recovers goodness-of-fit values above 0.95. Both\n                    <c:math xmlns:c=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1998\/Math\/MathML\">\n                      <c:msup>\n                        <c:mi>\u03c3<\/c:mi>\n                        <c:mo>*<\/c:mo>\n                      <\/c:msup>\n                    <\/c:math>\n                    and the Dirichlet parameter\n                    <d:math xmlns:d=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1998\/Math\/MathML\">\n                      <d:msup>\n                        <d:mi>c<\/d:mi>\n                        <d:mo>*<\/d:mo>\n                      <\/d:msup>\n                    <\/d:math>\n                    retain memory of the concentration phase above pretransition levels throughout the observational window.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1103\/blfp-62yy","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T17:37:05Z","timestamp":1787161025000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1103\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Order parameter for morphodynamic transitions in braided rivers: A stochastic compositional framework"],"prefix":"10.1103","volume":"114","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6158-6055","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Samuele","family":"De Bartolo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03fc1k060","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"University of Salento"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7098-4725","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Carlo","family":"De Michele","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01nffqt88","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Polytechnic University of Milan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"16","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"blfp-62yyCc1R1","volume-title":"Treatise on Geomorphology","author":"P. Ashmore","year":"2013","type":"book"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc2R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1139\/L09-088","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc3R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/esp.1755","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc4R1","volume-title":"Braided Rivers","author":"J. L. Best","year":"1993","type":"book"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc5R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1029\/2008WR007521","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc6R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1029\/2008JF001099","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc7R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1029\/WR006i006p01674","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc8R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/1096-9837(200101)26:1%3C31::AID-ESP155%3E3.0.CO;2-Y","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc9R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.geomorph.2015.01.001","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc10R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1140\/epjp\/s13360-022-02824-2","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc11R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1140\/epjp\/s13360-025-06618-0","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc12R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s00477-026-03204-3","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc13R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.physa.2025.130831","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc14R1","volume-title":"Fractals, Scaling and Growth Far from Equilibrium","author":"P. Meakin","year":"1998","type":"book"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc15R1","volume-title":"Fractal River Basins: Chance and Self-Organization","author":"I. Rodr\u00edguez-Iturbe","year":"1997","type":"book"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc16R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.earth.28.1.571","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc17R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevE.56.2817","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc18R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevE.109.034306","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc19R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1029\/2019JF005206","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc20R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1029\/2022GL099681","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc21R1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1007\/978-94-009-4109-0","type":"book","volume-title":"The Statistical Analysis of Compositional Data","author":"J. Aitchison","year":"1986"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc22R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.2517-6161.1982.tb01195.x","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc23R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/163688a0","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc24R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/2335470","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc25R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5281\/zenodo.10104612","type":"dataset"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc26R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5281\/zenodo.8019973","type":"dataset"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc27R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.geomorph.2013.07.025","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc28R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5194\/esurf-3-321-2015","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc29R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.geomorph.2017.07.004","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc30R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1680\/imotp.1930.15592","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc31R1","volume-title":"U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper","author":"L.\u00a0B. Leopold","year":"1953","type":"book"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc32R1","volume-title":"Fluvial Processes in Geomorphology","author":"L.\u00a0B. Leopold","year":"1964","type":"book"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc33R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5194\/esurf-4-273-2016","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc34R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5194\/esurf-5-187-2017","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc35R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/esp.3290060206","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"blfp-62yyCc36R1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315206189","type":"book","volume-title":"Fluvial Processes","author":"A. M. F. da Silva","year":"2017"}],"container-title":["Physical Review E"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/link.aps.org\/article\/10.1103\/blfp-62yy","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"http:\/\/harvest.aps.org\/v2\/journals\/articles\/10.1103\/blfp-62yy\/fulltext","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T18:27:09Z","timestamp":1790879229000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/link.aps.org\/doi\/10.1103\/blfp-62yy"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]]},"references-count":36,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,9]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1103\/blfp-62yy","relation":{},"ISSN":["2470-0045","2470-0053"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2470-0045","type":"print"},{"value":"2470-0053","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2026-06-10","name":"date_received","label":"Date Received","group":{"name":"publication_dates","label":"Publication dates"}},{"value":"Published by the American Physical Society. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.","name":"copyright_statement","label":"Copyright statement","group":{"name":"copyright","label":"copyright"}},{"value":"2026","name":"copyright_year","label":"Copyright year","group":{"name":"copyright","label":"copyright"}},{"value":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/","name":"creative_commons_license","label":"Creative Commons license","group":{"name":"licenses","label":"Licenses"}},{"value":"\u00a92026 The authors","name":"copyright_holder","label":"Copyright holder","group":{"name":"copyright","label":"copyright"}}],"article-number":"034305"}}