Dynamical model of bubble path instability

Millimeter-sized air bubbles rising through still water are known to exhibit zigzag and spiral oscillatory trajectories. We present a system of four ordinary differential equations which effectively model these dynamics. The model is based on Kirchhoff's equations and several physical arguments derived from our experimental observations. In the framework of this model, the zigzag and the spiral motions result from the same underlying bifurcation to wake instability.     

Limiting phase trajectories and dynamic transitions in nonlinear periodic systems

The intensity of energy exchange between parts of periodic nonlinear Frenkel-Kontorova and Klein-Gordon lattices is analyzed based on a concept of limiting phase trajectories introduced earlier. It is demonstrated that, with increasing nonlinearity parameter in these lattices, two dynamic transitions take place successively. The first transition is due to the bifurcation of the lower (with respect to frequency) normal mode because of its instability. It is accompanied by the occurrence of two additional normal modes and the separatrix between them. In this case, after this transition and before it, complete energy exchange between parts of the system is possible. The second transition takes place as a result of merging of the limiting phase trajectory with the separatrix, after which complete energy exchange between parts of the system is impossible. Analytical results are proven by numerical data.     

Self-oscillations and critical fluctuations

An active system is analyzed whose parameter space contains a bistable region of stationary states bounded by a cuspidal point. This point is somewhat analogous to the critical point of a non-symmetry-breaking phase transition (in terms of high low-frequency susceptibility, fluctuation growth, etc.). The system has not only stationary states, but also periodic oscillatory ones. When parameters change so that the oscillatory instability threshold passes through the cuspidal point, the continuous spectrum of fluctuations transforms into the discrete spectrum of periodic oscillations. The dynamics associated with this transformation are examined.     

Chaotic spatial bifurcation by complex coupling

A spatial bifurcation (a transition from stationary to oscillatory regime) in a chain of unidirectionally coupled phase systems is studied. It is shown that complication of coupling terms can make this bifurcation spatially chaotic in contrast to the previously observed "regular" and "predictable" type. It is demonstrated that the found type of spatial bifurcation corresponds to a smooth (predictable) manifold in the parameter space, while its spatial location gets actually unpredictable being governed by regularities of chaotic behavior. We infer that complex collective dynamics may arise in networks with plain architecture and simple dynamics of individual elements if nontrivial coupling is realized.     

Noise-induced enhancement of regular oscillations of a system of magnetic dipoles

The dynamics of a system consisting of two bodies or a chain of bodies possessing dipole magnetic moments and moments of inertia is studied on the basis of numerical analysis. In constructing the parametric bifurcation diagram, the conditions for oscillatory modes with high noise sensitivity are determined. Features of this dynamics of coupled magnetic moments are considered, and spectral characteristics of these modes are calculated.     

Nonlinear dynamics of the membrane potential of a bursting pacemaker cell

This article presents the results of an exploration of one two-parameter space of the Chay model of a cell excitable membrane. There are two main regions: a peripheral one, where the system dynamics will relax to an equilibrium point, and a central one where the expected dynamics is oscillatory. In the second region, we observe a variety of self-sustained oscillations including periodic oscillation, as well as bursting dynamics of different types. These oscillatory dynamics can be observed as periodic oscillations with different periodicities, and in some cases, as chaotic dynamics. These results, when displayed in bifurcation diagrams, result in complex bifurcation structures, which have been suggested as relevant to understand biological cell signaling.     

Surface solitons in trilete lattices

Fundamental solitons pinned to the interface between three semi-infinite one-dimensional nonlinear dynamical chains, coupled at a single site, are investigated. The light propagation in the respective system with the self-attractive on-site cubic nonlinearity, which can be implemented as an array of nonlinear optical waveguides, is modeled by the system of three discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equations. The formation, stability and dynamics of symmetric and asymmetric fundamental solitons centered at the interface are investigated analytically by means of the variational approximation (VA) and in a numerical form. The VA predicts that two asymmetric and two antisymmetric branches exist in the entire parameter space, while four asymmetric modes and the symmetric one can be found below some critical value of the inter-lattice coupling parameter—actually, past the symmetry-breaking bifurcation. At this bifurcation point, the symmetric branch is destabilized and two new asymmetric soliton branches appear, one stable and the other unstable. In this area, the antisymmetric branch changes its character, getting stabilized against oscillatory perturbations. In direct simulations, unstable symmetric modes radiate a part of their power, staying trapped around the interface. Highly unstable asymmetric modes transform into localized breathers traveling from the interface region across the lattice without significant power loss.     

Radiative Thermal Instability and Bifurcation

A radial hydrodynamic model is used to investigate the radiative thermal instability in the scrape-off layer by applying a linear stability analysis of existing equilibrium states. Phase space trajectories are analyzed to derive conditions of their existence and bifurcation. Equilibrium profiles are calculated for the cases of homogeneous plasma temperature, plasma density and self-consistency. Unstable perturbations, localized in the scrape-off layer, may lead to a strongly radiating detached plasma belt.     

Complex dynamics in the Oregonator model with linear delayed feedback

The Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction can display a rich dynamics when a delayed feedback is applied. We used the Oregonator model of the oscillating BZ reaction to explore the dynamics brought about by a linear delayed feedback. The time-delayed feedback can generate a succession of complex dynamics: period-doubling bifurcation route to chaos; amplitude death; fat, wrinkled, fractal, and broken tori; and mixed-mode oscillations. We observed that this dynamics arises due to a delay-driven transition, or toggling of the system between large and small amplitude oscillations, through a canard bifurcation. We used a combination of numerical bifurcation continuation techniques and other numerical methods to explore the dynamics in the strength of feedback-delay space. We observed that the period-doubling and quasiperiodic route to chaos span a low-dimensional subspace, perhaps due to the trapping of the trajectories in the small amplitude regime near the canard; and the trapped chaotic trajectories get ejected from the small amplitude regime due to a crowding effect to generate chaotic-excitable spikes. We also qualitatively explained the observed dynamics by projecting a three-dimensional phase portrait of the delayed dynamics on the two-dimensional nullclines. This is the first instance in which it is shown that the interaction of delay and canard can bring about complex dynamics.     

Twisted vortex filaments in the three-dimensional complex Ginzburg-Landau equation

The structure and dynamics of vortex filaments that form the cores of scroll waves in three-dimensional oscillatory media described by the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation are investigated. The study focuses on the role that twist plays in determining the bifurcation structure in various regions of the (alpha,beta) parameter space of this equation. As the degree of twist increases, initially straight filaments first undergo a Hopf bifurcation to helical filaments; further increase in the twist leads to a secondary Hopf bifurcation that results in supercoiled helices. In addition, localized states composed of superhelical segments interspersed with helical segments are found. If the twist is zero, zigzag filaments are found in certain regions of the parameter space. In very large systems disordered states comprising zigzag and helical segments with positive and negative senses exist. The behavior of vortex filaments in different regions of the parameter space is explored in some detail. In particular, an instability for nonzero twist near the alpha=beta line suggests the existence of a nonsaturating state that reduces the stability domain of straight filaments. The results are obtained through extensive simulations of the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation on large domains for long times, in conjunction with simulations on equivalent two-dimensional reductions of this equation and analytical considerations based on topological concepts.     

Regular and chaotic vibrations of deformed nuclei with increasing gamma rigidity

We study classical trajectories corresponding to L=0 vibrations in the geometric collective model of nuclei with stable axially symmetric quadrupole deformations. It is shown that with increasing stability against the onset of triaxiality the dynamics passes between a fully regular and semiregular limiting regime. In the transitional region, an interplay of chaotic and regular motions results in complex oscillatory dependence of the regular phase space on the Hamiltonian parameter and energy.     

Current layers and filaments in a semiconductor model with an impact ionization induced instability

Dissipative structures associated with an instability in a semiconductor far from equilibrium are studied. A generation-recombination mechanism, which effects anS-shaped current-voltage characteristics, is coupled to diffusion and drift of the electrons. The spectrum of linear recombination-diffusion modes is computed for the homogeneous steady state with negative differential conductivity. The obtained soft mode instability gives rise to the bifurcation of a family of transversally modulated inhomogeneous steady states and longitudinal travelling waves. The inhomogeneous steady states are calculated from the full nonlinear transport equations for plane and cylindrical geometries. They correspond to oscillatory and solitary concentration profiles, including depletion and accumulation layers and cylindrical filaments. Conditions for the formation of kink-shaped coexistence profiles are established in terms of equal area rules. The current-voltage characteristics are extended to include inhomogeneous current states. Nonequilibrium phase transitions between various branches of these characteristics are associated with switching through filamentation.     

Dissipative quantum chaos: transition from wave packet collapse to explosion

Using the quantum trajectories approach, we study the quantum dynamics of a dissipative chaotic system described by the Zaslavsky map. For strong dissipation the quantum wave function in the phase space collapses onto a compact packet which follows classical chaotic dynamics and whose area is proportional to the Planck constant. At weak dissipation the exponential instability of quantum dynamics on the Ehrenfest time scale dominates and leads to wave packet explosion. The transition from collapse to explosion takes place when the dissipation time scale exceeds the Ehrenfest time. For integrable nonlinear dynamics the explosion practically disappears leaving place to collapse.     

Nonlinear dynamics in wurtzite InN diodes under terahertz radiation

We carry out a theoretical study of nonlinear dynamics in terahertz-driven n+ nn+ wurtzite InN diodes by using time-dependent drift diffusion equations.A cooperative nonlinear oscillatory mode appears due to the negative differential mobility effect,which is the unique feature of wurtzite InN aroused by its strong nonparabolicity of the Γ 1 valley.The appearance of different nonlinear oscillatory modes,including periodic and chaotic states,is attributed to the competition between the self-sustained oscillation and the external driving oscillation.The transitions between the periodic and chaotic states are carefully investigated using chaos-detecting methods,such as the bifurcation diagram,the Fourier spectrum and the first return map.The resulting bifurcation diagram displays an interesting and complex transition picture with the driving amplitude as the control parameter.     

Vibration analog of a superradiant quantum transition

A vibrational analog of the superradiant quantum transition (SQT) in a classical system of weakly bound oscillators of van der Pole-Duffing (self-generators), in which the coupling element is a linear oscillator, is described. Such an analog is a strongly modulated oscillatory process of almost complete periodic energy exchange between the generators. This type of mode is alternative to nonlinear normal modes (NNM) and close in its character to limiting phase trajectories (LPTs), which have been introduced recently as applied to conservative systems, but in contrast to them, as the attractor. It is shown that the necessary condition of the transition to intense energy exchange in the classical system is the instability of one of the NNMs similarly to that when the condition of the superradiant transition is the instability of the ground state in a quantum model.     

The application of chemical reduction methods to a combustion system exhibiting complex dynamics

A number of chemical model reduction techniques have been developed over recent years with a growing range of applications in combustion. The following work demonstrates the application of such reduction techniques for a combustion system describing the oxidation of carbon monoxide + hydrogen in a continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR) at very low pressure. The system exhibits complex dynamics including oscillatory glow, oscillatory ignition and mixed mode oscillations. It is demonstrated that a range of local reduction methods can be applied to such complex systems, as long as sufficient coverage of the accessed regions of phase space are included in the reduction analysis. The methods include sensitivity analysis, the quasi-steady state approximation (QSSA) and repro-modelling based on the concept of an intrinsic low dimensional manifold (ILDM). The system is qualitatively different from some previous applications of ILDM methods where trajectories tend towards a fixed equilibrium. The underlying dimension of the system is seen to vary throughout selected trajectories with rapid increases occurring over very short time-scales during oscillatory ignition. Nevertheless, a final reduced model of only four variables is developed using fitted orthonormal polynomials describing the system dynamics on a slow manifold. The application serves to demonstrate that the relationship between local reduced model error and global errors can be complex for systems exhibiting complex dynamics, with regions of seemingly small local mapping gradients requiring tighter error control in order to control global errors. This feature may be common in cases where nearby trajectories are seen to diverge within the slow manifold over time.     

Transients and asymptotics in granular phase space

The dynamics of dissipative dynamical systems can be described by the sequential appearance of two different regimes. From a given initial condition, one first observes transient behavior characterized by a high degree of contraction of volumes in phase space. This is followed by an asymptotic regime with one or several attractors into which trajectories inject after long times. There is however, no sharp crossover between these two regimes and the identification of either one depends on the precision of measurement. In order to investigate these issues, we studied the dynamics of contracting integer maps. We found out that for the cases which in the continuum limit correspond to bifurcations, transients consists of two regimes sharply separated by a crossover point which displays universal scaling with the size of the set. Moreover, their average lengths display power law dependence on the accuracy of their measurement. This behavior persists away from bifurcation but with a different scaling law. In addition, we studied deterministic diffusion on finite sets and obtained analytic expressions for the mean square displacement in the long time limit.     

Structure-driven nonlinear instability as the origin of the explosive reconnection dynamics in resistive double tearing modes

The onset of abrupt magnetic reconnection events, observed in the nonlinear evolution of double tearing modes (DTM), is investigated via reduced resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations. We have identified the critical threshold for the parameters characterizing the linear DTM stability leading to the bifurcation to the explosive dynamics. A new type of secondary instability is discovered that is excited once the magnetic islands on each rational surface reach a critical structure characterized here by the width and the angle rating their triangularization. This new instability is an island structure-driven nonlinear instability, identified as the trigger of the subsequent nonlinear dynamics which couples flow and flux perturbations. This instability only weakly depends on resistivity.