Suppress Winfree turbulence by local forcing excitable systems

The occurrence of Winfree turbulence is currently regarded as one of the principal mechanisms underlying cardiac fibrillation. We develop a local stimulation method that suppresses Winfree turbulence in three-dimensional excitable media. We find that Winfree turbulence can be effectively suppressed by locally injecting periodic signals to only a very small subset (around some surface region) of total space sites. Our method for the first time demonstrates the effectiveness of local low-amplitude periodic excitations in suppressing turbulence in 3D excitable media and has fundamental improvements in efficiency, convenience, and turbulence suppression speed compared with previous strategies. Therefore, it has great potential for developing into a practical low-amplitude defibrillation approach.     

Motion of spiral tip driven by local forcing in excitable media

We study the motion of a spiral wave controlled by a local periodic forcing imposed on a region around the spiral tip in an excitable medium. Three types of trajectories of spiral tip are observed： the epicycloid-like meandering, the resonant drift, and the hypocycloid-like meandering. The frequency of the spiral is sensitive to the local periodic forcing. The dependency of spiral frequency on the amplitude and size of local periodic forcing are presented. In addition, we show how the drift speed and direction are adjusted by the amplitude and phase of local periodic forcing, which is consistent with a theoretical analysis based on the weak deformation approximation.     

Coherence depression in stochastic excitable systems with two-frequency forcing

We study the response of two generic neuron models, the leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) model and the leaky integrate-and-fire model with dynamic threshold (LIFDT) (i.e., with memory) to a stimulus consisting of two sinusoidal drives with incommensurate frequency, an amplitude modulation ("envelope") noise and a relatively weak additive noise. Spectral and coherence analysis of responses to such naturalistic stimuli reveals how the LIFDT model exhibits better correlation between modulation and spike train even in the presence of both noises. However, a resonance-induced synchrony, occurring when the beat frequency between the sinusoids is close to the intrinsic neuronal firing rate, decreases the coherence in the dynamic threshold case. Under suprathreshold conditions, the modulation noise simultaneously decreases the linear spectral coherence between the spikes and the whole stimulus, as well as between spikes and the stimulus envelope. Our study shows that the coefficient of variation of the envelope fluctuations is positively correlated with the degree of coherence depression. As the coherence function quantifies the linear information transmission, our findings indicate that under certain conditions, a transmission loss results when an excitable system with adaptive properties encodes a beat with frequency in the vicinity of its mean firing rate.     

耦合动力系统的预测投影响应

提出了耦合动力系统的预测投影响应,通过选择不同的函数以及改变比例因子可以构建一系列不同的驱动响应系统.详细研究了该系统的一种特殊情况——加速预测投影响应.在该系统中,响应系统与驱动系统的输出轨迹在幅度上成比例关系,并且具有更快的演化速度.同时,还进一步证明了该系统在驱动信号和驱动项有微小扰动以及参数失配的情况下具有鲁棒性.     

Recurrence analysis of strange nonchaotic dynamics in driven excitable systems

Numerous studies have shown that strange nonchaotic attractors (SNAs) can be observed generally in quasiperiodically forced systems. These systems could be one- or high-dimensional maps, continuous-time systems, or experimental models. Recently introduced measures of complexity based on recurrence plots can detect the transitions from quasiperiodic to chaotic motion via SNAs in the previously cited systems. We study here the case of continuous-time systems and experimental models. In particular, we show the performance of the recurrence measures in detecting transitions to SNAs in quasiperiodically forced excitable systems and experimental time series.     

Propagation of travelling waves in sub-excitable systems driven by noise and periodic forcing

It has been reported that traveling waves propagate periodically and stably in sub-excitable systems driven by noise [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 138301 (2002)]. As a further investigation, here we observe different types of traveling waves under different noises and periodic forces, using a simplified Oregonator model. Depending on different noises and periodic forces, we have observed different types of wave propagation (or their disappearance). Moreover, reversal phenomena are observed in this system based on the numerical experiments in the one-dimensional space. We explain this as an effect of periodic forces. Thus, we give qualitative explanations for how stable reversal phenomena appear, which seem to arise from the mixing function of the periodic force and the noise. The output period and three velocities (normal, positive and negative) of the travelling waves are defined and their relationship with the periodic forces, along with the types of waves, are also studied in sub-excitable system under a fixed noise intensity. Electronic supplementary material Supplementary Online Material     

Thermal response in driven diffusive systems

Evaluating the linear response of a driven system to a change in environment temperature(s) is essential for understanding thermal properties of nonequilibrium systems. The system is kept in weak contact with possibly different fast relaxing mechanical, chemical or thermal equilibrium reservoirs. Modifying one of the temperatures creates both entropy fluxes and changes in dynamical activity. That is not unlike mechanical response of nonequilibrium systems but the extra difficulty for perturbation theory via path-integration is that for a Langevin dynamics temperature also affects the noise amplitude and not only the drift part. Using a discrete-time mesh adapted to the numerical integration one avoids that ultraviolet problem and we arrive at a fluctuation expression for its thermal susceptibility. The algorithm appears stable under taking even finer resolution.     

Current-conserving nonlinear response theory in driven systems

Employing the closed-time path 2PI effective action (CTP 2PI EA) approach, we study the response of an open interacting electronic system to time-dependent external electromagnetic fields. We show that the 2PI EA provides a systematic way of calculating the propagator and response functions of the system. Due to the invariance of the 2PI EA under external gauge transformations, the response functions calculated from it are such that the Ward–Takahashi hierarchy, which ensures current conservation beyond the expectation value level, is satisfied. These findings may be useful in the study of interacting electronic pumping devices, and serve to clarify the connection between current conservation (beyond the mean value level) and real-time nonlinear response theory.     

Dynamics of excitable nodes on random graphs

We study the interplay of topology and dynamics of excitable nodes on random networks. Comparison is made between systems grown by purely random (Erdős–Rényi) rules and those grown by the Achlioptas process. For a given size, the growth mechanism affects both the thresholds for the emergence of different structural features as well as the level of dynamical activity supported on the network.     

Quantum-mechanical nonperturbative response of driven chaotic mesoscopic systems

Consider a time-dependent Hamiltonian H(Q,P;x(t)) with periodic driving x(t) = Asin(Omegat). It is assumed that the classical dynamics is chaotic, and that its power spectrum extends over some frequency range |omega|A(prt), where A(prt) approximately Planck's over 2pi, the system may have a relatively strong response for Omega>omega(cl) due to QM nonperturbative effect.     

Anticipating synchronization of chaotic Lur'e systems

In this paper we consider the anticipating synchronization of chaotic time-delayed Lur'e-type systems in a master-slave setting. We introduce three scenarios for anticipating synchronization, and give sufficient conditions for the existence of anticipating synchronizing slave systems in terms of linear matrix inequalities. The results obtained are illustrated on a time-delayed Rossler system and a time-delayed Chua oscillator.     

Energy landscapes in random systems, driven interfaces, and wetting

We discuss the zero-temperature susceptibility of elastic manifolds with quenched randomness. It diverges with system size due to low-lying local minima. The distribution of energy gaps is deduced to be constant in the limit of vanishing gaps by comparing numerics with a probabilistic argument. The typical manifold response arises from a level-crossing phenomenon and implies that wetting in random systems begins with a discrete transition. The associated "jump field" scales as approximately L-5/3 and L-2.2 for (1+1) and (2+1) dimensional manifolds with random bond disorder.     

Nonlinear response of premixed-flame fronts to localized random forcing in the presence of a strong tangential blowing

Using a modified Michelson-Sivashinsky evolution equation (EE) as the starting point, we study the nonlinear dynamics of a premixed gaseous flame when a significant gas flow velocity u _∥ exists parallel to the front. The chosen u _∥ noticeably exceed the critical value u _c corresponding to the transition between absolute and convective instability, whereby an external forcing is needed to trigger some wrinkling in the long-time limit. The selected excitation is spatially localized and evolves randomly in time according to an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process with adjustable intensity and correlation time. Once suitably periodized spatially, the EE is solved for the front shape by a Fourier pseudo-spectral numerical method. Integrations over wide spatial domains and long times reveal the following. (1) The instantaneous spatial development of the Landau–Darrieus (LD) instability ultimately comprises three successive regions: (I) a linear zone, adjacent to and downstream of the exciting source, where the instability ultimately amplifies preferentially some wavelengths from the random forcing; (II) a transition zone, downstream of zone I, where nonlinearity acquires full importance; and (III) a fully nonlinear zone, where crest mergers make the cell amplitudes and wavelengths increase with downstream distance, till the end of the integration domain is reached. (2) On time average, only zone (I) depends significantly on the noise characteristics whereas zone (III) widens self-similarity: flame-brush thickness, wrinkle wavelengths, PDF of front fluctuations about the mean are all governed by a single length scale Λ(x) that increases linearly with downstream distance (x). The mean degree of wrinkling, flame slope and cell aspect ratio are uniform there. Changing u _∥ yields dΛ～u _c/u _∥. This self-similarity may be attributed to the scale invariance of the LD instability and of the Huygens nonlinearity. Strongly resembling the temporal (u _∥=0) development of wrinkles despite the spatial nonlocality of the LD instability and the absence of any infrared cut-off frequency in the exciting spectrum, the above findings raise open questions as to the consequences of a spatially distributed forcing when u _∥?u _c.     

On the role of frustration in excitable systems

We study the role of frustration in excitable systems that allow for oscillations either by construction or in an induced way. We first generalize the notion of frustration to systems whose dynamical equations do not derive from a Hamiltonian. Their couplings can be directed or undirected; they should come in pairs of opposing effects like attractive and repulsive, or activating and repressive, ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic. As examples we then consider bistable frustrated units as elementary building blocks of our motifs of coupled units. Frustration can be implemented in these systems in various ways: on the level of a single unit via the coupling of a self-loop of positive feedback to a negative feedback loop, on the level of coupled units via the topology or via the type of coupling which may be repressive or activating. In comparison to systems without frustration, we analyze the impact of frustration on the type and number of attractors and observe a considerable enrichment of phase space, ranging from stable fixed-point behavior over different patterns of coexisting options for phase-locked motion to chaotic behavior. In particular we find multistable behavior even for the smallest motifs as long as they are frustrated. Therefore we confirm an enrichment of phase space here for excitable systems with their many applications in biological systems, a phenomenon that is familiar from frustrated spin systems and less known from frustrated phase oscillators. So the enrichment of phase space seems to be a generic effect of frustration in dynamical systems. For a certain range of parameters our systems may be realized in cell tissues. Our results point therefore on a possible generic origin for dynamical behavior that is flexible and functionally stable at the same time, since frustrated systems provide alternative paths for the same set of parameters and at the same "energy costs."     

Periodic forcing of scroll rings and control of Winfree turbulence in excitable media

By simulations of the Barkley model, action of uniform periodic nonresonant forcing on scroll rings and wave turbulence in three-dimensional excitable media is investigated. Sufficiently strong rapid forcing converts expanding scroll rings into the collapsing ones and suppresses the Winfree turbulence caused by the negative tension of wave filaments. Slow strong forcing has an opposite effect, leading to expansion of scroll rings and induction of the turbulence. These effects are explained in the framework of the phenomenological kinematic theory of scroll waves.     

Average dynamics of a driven set of globally coupled excitable units

We investigate the behavior of the order parameter describing the collective dynamics of a large set of driven, globally coupled excitable units. We derive conditions on the parameters of the system that allow to bound the degree of synchrony of its solutions. We describe a regime where time dependent nonsynchronous dynamics occurs and, yet, the average activity displays low dimensional, temporally complex behavior.     

Control of coherence in excitable systems by the interplay of noise and time-delay

The control of coherence and spectral properties of noise-induced oscillations by time delayed feedback is studied in a FitzHugh-Nagumo system and analyzed by reduced non-Markovian models. A two-state approach is considered as an abstract simplification of this excitable system. Rest and excited states are characterized by different waiting time distributions. This non-Markovian approach allows one to predict quantitatively the increase of coherence measured by the correlation time, and the modulation of the main frequencies of the stochastic dynamics in dependence on the delay time below Hopf bifurcations. Beyond the Hopf bifurcation, bulk oscillations of an ensemble of excitable two-state rotators emerge in the onset of coherent activation in case of delayed mean field coupling of the ensemble.     

Stochastic resonance driven by time-modulated neurotransmitter random point trains

Information transmitting by temporally modulated random point trains, such as neurotransmitter quanta and spikes, which are neither additive signal and noise nor diffusion approximated additive signal and noise, is studied. We demonstrate that tuning the input train's average rate can optimize the response of an integrate-and-fire model neuron to a signal modulated point train. The characteristics of this phenomenon and its biological significance are discussed.     

Experimental observation of strange nonchaotic attractors in a driven excitable system

We report the observation of strange nonchaotic attractors in an electrochemical cell. The system parameters were chosen such that the system observable (anodic current) exhibits fixed point behavior or period one oscillations. These autonomous dynamics were thereafter subjected to external quasiperiodic forcing. Systematically varying the characteristics (frequency and amplitude) of the superimposed external signal; quasiperiodic, chaotic and strange nonchaotic behaviors in the anodic current were generated. The inception of strange nonchaotic attractors was verified using standard diagnostic techniques.