Ellipse packing in two-dimensional cell tessellation: a theoretical explanation for Lewis’s law and Aboav-Weaire’s law

Background Lewis’s law and Aboav-Weaire’s law are two fundamental laws used to describe the topology of two-dimensional (2D) structures; however, their theoretical bases remain unclear. Methods We used R software with the Conicfit package to fit ellipses based on the geometric parameters of polygonal cells of ten different kinds of natural and artificial 2D structures. Results Our results indicated that the cells could be classified as an ellipse’s inscribed polygon (EIP) and that they tended to form the ellipse’s maximal inscribed polygon (EMIP). This phenomenon was named as ellipse packing. On the basis of the number of cell edges, cell area, and semi-axes of fitted ellipses, we derived and verified new relations of Lewis’s law and Aboav-Weaire’s law. Conclusions Ellipse packing is a short-range order that places restrictions on the cell topology and growth pattern. Lewis’s law and Aboav-Weaire’s law mainly reflect the effect of deformation from circle to ellipse on cell area and the edge number of neighboring cells, respectively. The results of this study could be used to simulate the dynamics of cell topology during growth.