{"paper":{"title":"Algal Optics","license":"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":["physics.bio-ph","q-bio.SC"],"primary_cat":"cond-mat.soft","authors_text":"Ming Yang, Raymond E. Goldstein, Sumit Kumar Birwa","submitted_at":"2025-06-18T07:48:01Z","abstract_excerpt":"Nearly a decade ago it was discovered that the spherical cell body of the alga $Chlamydomonas~reinhardtii$ can act as a lens to concentrate incoming light onto the cell's membrane-bound photoreceptor and thereby affect phototaxis. Since many nearly transparent cells in marine environments have complex, often non-axisymmetric shapes, this observation raises fundamental, yet little-explored questions in biological optics about light refraction by the bodies of microorganisms. There are two distinct contexts for such questions: the $absorption$ problem for $incoming$ light, typified by photosynth"},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"2506.15214","kind":"arxiv","version":1},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"integrity":{"clean":true,"summary":{"advisory":0,"critical":0,"by_detector":{},"informational":0},"endpoint":"/pith/2506.15214/integrity.json","findings":[],"available":true,"detectors_run":[],"snapshot_sha256":"c28c3603d3b5d939e8dc4c7e95fa8dfce3d595e45f758748cecf8e644a296938"},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}