Breathing and switching cyclops states in Kuramoto networks with higher-mode coupling.

Cyclops states are intriguing cluster patterns observed in oscillator networks, including neuronal ensembles. The concept of cyclops states formed by two distinct, coherent clusters and a solitary oscillator was introduced by Munyaev et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 107201 (2023)0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.130.107201], where we explored the surprising prevalence of such states in repulsive Kuramoto networks of rotators with higher-mode harmonics in the coupling. This paper extends our analysis to understand the mechanisms responsible for destroying the cyclops' states and inducing dynamical patterns called breathing and switching cyclops states. We first analytically study the existence and stability of cyclops states in the Kuramoto-Sakaguchi networks of two-dimensional oscillators with inertia as a function of the second coupling harmonic. We then describe two bifurcation scenarios that give birth to breathing and switching cyclops states. We demonstrate that these states and their hybrids are prevalent across a wide coupling range and are robust against a relatively large intrinsic frequency detuning. Beyond the Kuramoto networks, breathing and switching cyclops states promise to strongly manifest in other physical and biological networks, including coupled theta neurons.

Heteroclinic cycles and chaos in a system of four identical phase oscillators with global biharmonic coupling.

We study a system of four identical globally coupled phase oscillators with a biharmonic coupling function. Its dimension and the type of coupling make it the minimal system of Kuramoto-type (both in the sense of the phase space's dimension and the number of harmonics) that supports chaotic dynamics. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is still no numerical evidence for the existence of chaos in this system. The dynamics of such systems is tightly connected with the action of the symmetry group on its phase space. The presence of symmetries might lead to an emergence of chaos due to scenarios involving specific heteroclinic cycles. We suggest an approach for searching such heteroclinic cycles and showcase first examples of chaos in this system found by using this approach.

Cyclops States in Repulsive Kuramoto Networks: The Role of Higher-Order Coupling.

Repulsive oscillator networks can exhibit multiple cooperative rhythms, including chimera and cluster splay states. Yet, understanding which rhythm prevails remains challenging. Here, we address this fundamental question in the context of Kuramoto-Sakaguchi networks of rotators with higher-order Fourier modes in the coupling. Through analysis and numerics, we show that three-cluster splay states with two distinct coherent clusters and a solitary oscillator are the prevalent rhythms in networks with an odd number of units. We denote such tripod patterns cyclops states with the solitary oscillator reminiscent of the Cyclops' eye. As their mythological counterparts, the cyclops states are giants that dominate the system's phase space in weakly repulsive networks with first-order coupling. Astonishingly, the addition of the second or third harmonics to the Kuramoto coupling function makes the cyclops states global attractors practically across the full range of coupling's repulsion. Beyond the Kuramoto oscillators, we show that this effect is robustly present in networks of canonical theta neurons with adaptive coupling. At a more general level, our results suggest clues for finding dominant rhythms in repulsive physical and biological networks.

Stability of rotatory solitary states in Kuramoto networks with inertia.

Solitary states emerge in oscillator networks when one oscillator separates from the fully synchronized cluster and oscillates with a different frequency. Such chimera-type patterns with an incoherent state formed by a single oscillator were observed in various oscillator networks; however, there is still a lack of understanding of how such states can stably appear. Here, we study the stability of solitary states in Kuramoto networks of identical two-dimensional phase oscillators with inertia and a phase-lagged coupling. The presence of inertia can induce rotatory dynamics of the phase difference between the solitary oscillator and the coherent cluster. We derive asymptotic stability conditions for such a solitary state as a function of inertia, network size, and phase lag that may yield either attractive or repulsive coupling. Counterintuitively, our analysis demonstrates that (1) increasing the size of the coherent cluster can promote the stability of the solitary state in the attractive coupling case and (2) the solitary state can be stable in small-size networks with all repulsive coupling. We also discuss the implications of our stability analysis for the emergence of rotatory chimeras.

Partial synchronization in the second-order Kuramoto model: An auxiliary system method.

Partial synchronization emerges in an oscillator network when the network splits into clusters of coherent and incoherent oscillators. Here, we analyze the stability of partial synchronization in the second-order finite-dimensional Kuramoto model of heterogeneous oscillators with inertia. Toward this goal, we develop an auxiliary system method that is based on the analysis of a two-dimensional piecewise-smooth system whose trajectories govern oscillating dynamics of phase differences between oscillators in the coherent cluster. Through a qualitative bifurcation analysis of the auxiliary system, we derive explicit bounds that relate the maximum natural frequency mismatch, inertia, and the network size that can support stable partial synchronization. In particular, we predict threshold-like stability loss of partial synchronization caused by increasing inertia. Our auxiliary system method is potentially applicable to cluster synchronization with multiple coherent clusters and more complex network topology.

Appearance of chaos and hyperchaos in evolving pendulum network.

The study of deterministic chaos continues to be one of the important problems in the field of nonlinear dynamics. Interest in the study of chaos exists both in low-dimensional dynamical systems and in large ensembles of coupled oscillators. In this paper, we study the emergence of chaos in chains of locally coupled identical pendulums with constant torque. The study of the scenarios of the emergence (disappearance) and properties of chaos is done as a result of changes in (i) the individual properties of elements due to the influence of dissipation in this problem and (ii) the properties of the entire ensemble under consideration, determined by the number of interacting elements and the strength of the connection between them. It is shown that an increase of dissipation in an ensemble with a fixed coupling force and a number of elements can lead to the appearance of chaos as a result of a cascade of period-doubling bifurcations of periodic rotational motions or as a result of invariant tori destruction bifurcations. Chaos and hyperchaos can occur in an ensemble by adding or excluding one or more elements. Moreover, chaos arises hard since in this case, the control parameter is discrete. The influence of the coupling strength on the occurrence of chaos is specific. The appearance of chaos occurs with small and intermediate coupling and is caused by the overlap of the existence of various out-of-phase rotational mode regions. The boundaries of these areas are determined analytically and confirmed in a numerical experiment. Chaotic regimes in the chain do not exist if the coupling strength is strong enough. The dimension of an observed hyperchaotic regime strongly depends on the number of coupled elements.

Locking and regularization of chimeras by periodic forcing.

We study how a chimera state in a one-dimensional medium of nonlocally coupled oscillators responds to a homogeneous in space periodic in time external force. On a macroscopic level, where a chimera can be considered as an oscillating object, forcing leads to entrainment of the chimera's basic frequency inside an Arnold tongue. On a mesoscopic level, where a chimera can be viewed as an inhomogeneous, stationary, or nonstationary pattern, strong forcing can lead to regularization of an unstationary chimera. On a microscopic level of the dynamics of individual oscillators, forcing outside of the Arnold tongue leads to a multiplateau state with nontrivial locking properties.

Ventricular fibrillation induced by 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borate under conditions of hypoxia/reoxygenation.

BACKGROUND: Ventricular fibrillation is an electrophysiological disorder leading to cardiac arrest that can be caused using chemicals. The 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borate (2-apb) is a poorly understood compound that modulates store operated calcium entry and gap junctions and can provoke ventricular fibrillation. Our study aimed to investigate the effect of 2-apb on the work of an isolated rat heart and coronary vessels under normoxic conditions, as well as under conditions of hypoxia/reoxygenation, that affect intracellular calcium. METHODS: In order to accomplish this task, we used Langendorff rat heart preparation and multi-electrode registration of bioelectric activity of the heart with flexible arrays. An analysis of changes in the volume of coronary blood flow was also performed. RESULTS: Arrhythmogenic effect of 2-apb on an isolated rat heart was shown: an increase in the frequency and variability of the heart rhythm, a decrease in the electrical conductivity of the myocardium, and the appearance of ventricular fibrillation. Under hypoxic conditions, the arrhythmogenic effect of 2-apb decreased and no ventricular fibrillation was observed. In addition, 2-apb had a stabilizing effect on coronary vessels and weakened the effect of reoxygenation on the electrical activity of the heart. CONCLUSIONS: Obtained results indicate that the effect of arrhythmogenic chemicals, for example, proarrhythmic drugs that affect the myocardial [Ca2+]in, depended on the oxygen supply to the heart. The components of the store operated calcium entry and gap junctions can become promising therapeutic targets for controlling the physiological disorders of the heart and blood vessels caused or accompanied by reoxygenation.

Variety of rotation modes in a small chain of coupled pendulums.

This article studies the rotational dynamics of three identical coupled pendulums. There exist two parameter areas where the in-phase rotational motion is unstable and out-of-phase rotations are realized. Asymptotic theory is developed that allows us to analytically identify borders of instability areas of in-phase rotation motion. It is shown that out-of-phase rotations are the result of the parametric instability of in-phase motion. Complex out-of-phase rotations are numerically found and their stability and bifurcations are defined. It is demonstrated that the emergence of chaotic dynamics happens due to the period doubling bifurcation cascade. The detailed scenario of symmetry breaking is presented. The development of chaotic dynamics leads to the origin of two chaotic attractors of different types. The first one is characterized by the different phases of all pendulums. In the second case, the phases of the two pendulums are equal, and the phase of the third one is different. This regime can be interpreted as a drum-head mode in star-networks. It may also indicate the occurrence of chimera states in chains with a greater number of nearest-neighbour interacting elements and in analogical systems with global coupling.

Fibroblasts alter spiral wave stability.

We consider a three-domain model of cardiac tissue consisting of fibroblasts, myocytes, and extracellular space. We show in the one dimensional case that the fibroblasts with different resting potentials may alter restitution properties of tissue. On this basis we demonstrated that in two dimensional slice of cardiac tissue, a spiral wave break up can be caused purely by the influence of fibroblasts and, vice-versa, initially unstable spiral can be stabilized by fibroblasts depending on the value of their resting potential.

Synchronous regimes in ensembles of coupled Bonhoeffer-van der Pol oscillators.

We study synchronous behavior in ensembles of locally coupled nonidentical Bonhoeffer-van der Pol oscillators. We show that, in a chain of N elements not less than 2;{N-1}, different coexisting regimes of global synchronization are possible, and we investigate wave-induced synchronous regimes in a chain and in a lattice of coupled nonidentical Bonhoeffer-van der Pol oscillators.

Introduction to Focus Issue: synchronization in complex networks.

Synchronization in large ensembles of coupled interacting units is a fundamental phenomenon relevant for the understanding of working mechanisms in neuronal networks, genetic networks, coupled electrical and laser networks, coupled mechanical systems, networks in social sciences, and others. It relates to mathematical and computational analysis of the existence of different states and its stability, clustering, bifurcations and chaos, robustness and sensitivity analysis, etc., at the intersection between synchronization and pattern formation in complex networks. This interdisciplinary oriented Focus Issue presents recent progress in this area with contributions on generic methods, specific model studies, and applications.

Cluster synchronization in oscillatory networks.

Synchronous behavior in networks of coupled oscillators is a commonly observed phenomenon attracting a growing interest in physics, biology, communication, and other fields of science and technology. Besides global synchronization, one can also observe splitting of the full network into several clusters of mutually synchronized oscillators. In this paper, we study the conditions for such cluster partitioning into ensembles for the case of identical chaotic systems. We focus mainly on the existence and the stability of unique unconditional clusters whose rise does not depend on the origin of the other clusters. Also, conditional clusters in arrays of globally nonsymmetrically coupled identical chaotic oscillators are investigated. The design problem of organizing clusters into a given configuration is discussed.

Network mechanism for burst generation.

We report on the mechanism of burst generation by populations of intrinsically spiking neurons, when a certain threshold in coupling strength is exceeded. These ensembles synchronize at relatively low coupling strength and lose synchronization at stronger coupling via spatiotemporal intermittency. The latter transition triggers fast repetitive spiking, which results in synchronized bursting. We present evidence that this mechanism is generic for various network topologies from regular to small-world and scale-free ones, different types of coupling and neuronal model.

Synchronized chaotic intermittent and spiking behavior in coupled map chains.

We study phase synchronization effects in a chain of nonidentical chaotic oscillators with a type-I intermittent behavior. Two types of parameter distribution, linear and random, are considered. The typical phenomena are the onset and existence of global (all-to-all) and cluster (partial) synchronization with increase of coupling. Increase of coupling strength can also lead to desynchronization phenomena, i.e., global or cluster synchronization is changed into a regime where synchronization is intermittent with incoherent states. Then a regime of a fully incoherent nonsynchronous state (spatiotemporal intermittency) appears. Synchronization-desynchronization transitions with increase of coupling are also demonstrated for a system resembling an intermittent one: a chain of coupled maps replicating the spiking behavior of neurobiological networks.

Phase synchronization in ensembles of bursting oscillators.

We study the effects of mutual and external chaotic phase synchronization in ensembles of bursting oscillators. These oscillators (used for modeling neuronal dynamics) are essentially multiple time scale systems. We show that a transition to mutual phase synchronization takes place on the bursting time scale of globally coupled oscillators, while on the spiking time scale, they behave asynchronously. We also demonstrate the effect of the onset of external chaotic phase synchronization of the bursting behavior in the studied ensemble by a periodic driving applied to one arbitrarily taken neuron. We also propose an explanation of the mechanism behind this effect. We infer that the demonstrated phenomenon can be used efficiently for controlling bursting activity in neural ensembles.

Phase synchronization of chaotic intermittent oscillations.

We study phase synchronization effects of chaotic oscillators with a type-I intermittency behavior. The external and mutual locking of the average length of the laminar stage for coupled discrete and continuous in time systems is shown and the mechanism of this synchronization is explained. We demonstrate that this phenomenon can be described by using results of the parametric resonance theory and that this correspondence enables one to predict and derive all zones of synchronization.

Three types of transitions to phase synchronization in coupled chaotic oscillators.

We study the effect of noncoherence on the onset of phase synchronization of two coupled chaotic oscillators. Depending on the coherence properties of oscillations characterized by the phase diffusion, three types of transitions to phase synchronization are found. For phase-coherent attractors this transition occurs shortly after one of the zero Lyapunov exponents becomes negative. At rather strong phase diffusion, phase locking manifests a strong degree of generalized synchronization, and occurs only after one positive Lyapunov exponent becomes negative. For intermediate phase diffusion, phase synchronization sets in via an interior crises of the hyperchaotic set.

Oscillatory and rotatory synchronization of chaotic autonomous phase systems.

The existence of rotatory, oscillatory, and oscillatory-rotatory synchronization of two coupled chaotic phase systems is demonstrated in the paper. We find four types of transition to phase synchronization depending on coherence properties of motions, characterized by phase variable diffusion. When diffusion is small the onset of phase synchronization is accompanied by a change in the Lyapunov spectrum; one of the zero Lyapunov exponents becomes negative shortly before this onset. If the diffusion of the phase variable is strong then phase synchronization and generalized synchronization, occur simultaneously, i.e., one of the positive Lyapunov exponents becomes negative, or generalized synchronization even sets in before phase synchronization. For intermediate diffusion the phase synchronization appears via interior crisis of the hyperchaotic set. Soft and hard transitions to phase synchronization are discussed.

Locking-based frequency measurement and synchronization of chaotic oscillators with complex dynamics.

We propose a method for the determination of a characteristic oscillation frequency for a broad class of chaotic oscillators generating complex signals. It is based on the locking of standard periodic self-sustained oscillators by an irregular signal. The method is applied to experimental data from chaotic electrochemical oscillators, where other approaches of frequency determination (e.g., based on Hilbert transform) fail. Using the method we characterize the effects of phase synchronization for systems with ill-defined phase by external forcing and due to mutual coupling.