In this paper, we introduce a continuation method for the spatially discretized models, while conserving the size and shape of the cells and lattices. This proposed method is realized using the shift operators and nonlocal operators of convolution types. Through this method and using the shift operator, the nonlinear spatially discretized model on the uniform and nonuniform lattices can be systematically converted into a spatially continuous model; this renders both models point-wisely equivalent. Moreover, by the convolution with suitable kernels, we mollify the shift operator and approximate the spatially discretized models using the nonlocal evolution equations, rendering suitable for the application in both experimental and mathematical analyses. We also demonstrate that this approximation is supported by the singular limit analysis, and that the information of the lattice and cells is expressed in the shift and nonlocal operators. The continuous models designed using our method can successfully replicate the patterns corresponding to those of the original spatially discretized models obtained from the numerical simulations. Furthermore, from the observations of the isotropy of the Delta-Notch signaling system in a developing real fly brain, we propose a radially symmetric kernel for averaging the cell shape using our continuation method. We also apply our method for cell division and proliferation to spatially discretized models of the differentiation wave and describe the discrete models on the sphere surface. Finally, we demonstrate an application of our method in the linear stability analysis of the planar cell polarity model.
Keywords: Continuation method; Delta–Notch signaling; Nonlocal interactions; Singular limit analysis; Spatially discretized model.