Solitary states and solitary state chimera in neural networks.

We investigate solitary states and solitary state chimeras in a ring of nonlocally coupled systems represented by FitzHugh-Nagumo neurons in the oscillatory regime. We perform a systematic study of solitary states in this network. In particular, we explore the phase space structure, calculate basins of attraction, analyze the region of existence of solitary states in the system's parameter space, and investigate how the number of solitary nodes in the network depends on the coupling parameters. We report for the first time the occurrence of solitary state chimera in networks of coupled time-continuous neural systems. Our results disclose distinctive features characteristic of solitary states in the FitzHugh-Nagumo model, such as the flat mean phase velocity profile. On the other hand, we show that the mechanism of solitary states' formation in the FitzHugh-Nagumo model similar to chaotic maps and the Kuramoto model with inertia is related to the appearance of bistability in the system for certain values of coupling parameters. This indicates a general, probably a universal desynchronization scenario via solitary states in networks of very different nature.

Synchronization of spiral wave patterns in two-layer 2D lattices of nonlocally coupled discrete oscillators.

The paper describes the effects of mutual and external synchronization of spiral wave structures in two coupled two-dimensional lattices of coupled discrete-time oscillators. Each lattice is given by a 2D N×N network of nonlocally coupled Nekorkin maps which model neuronal activity. We show numerically that spiral wave structures, including spiral wave chimeras, can be synchronized and establish the mechanism of the synchronization scenario. Our numerical studies indicate that when the coupling strength between the lattices is sufficiently weak, only a certain part of oscillators of the interacting networks is imperfectly synchronized, while the other part demonstrates a partially synchronous behavior. If the spatiotemporal patterns in the lattices do not include incoherent cores, imperfect synchronization is realized for most oscillators above a certain value of the coupling strength. In the regime of spiral wave chimeras, the imperfect synchronization of all oscillators cannot be achieved even for sufficiently large values of the coupling strength.

Forced synchronization of a multilayer heterogeneous network of chaotic maps in the chimera state mode.

We study numerically forced synchronization of a heterogeneous multilayer network in the regime of a complex spatiotemporal pattern. Retranslating the master chimera structure in a driving layer along subsequent layers is considered, and the peculiarities of forced synchronization are studied depending on the nature and degree of heterogeneity of the network, as well as on the degree of asymmetry of the inter-layer coupling. We also analyze the possibility of synchronizing all the network layers with a given accuracy when the coupling parameters are varied.

Chimera states and intermittency in an ensemble of nonlocally coupled Lorenz systems.

We study the spatiotemporal dynamics of coupled Lorenz systems with nonlocal interaction and for small values of the coupling strength. It is shown that due to the interaction the effective values of the control parameters can shift and the classical quasi-hyperbolic Lorenz attractor in an isolated element is transformed to a nonhyperbolic one. In this case, the network becomes multistable that is a typical property of nonhyperbolic chaotic systems. This fact gives rise to the appearance of chimera-like states, which have not been found in the studied network before. We also reveal and describe three different types of intermittency, both in time and in space, between various spatiotemporal structures in the network of nonlocally coupled Lorenz models.

Temporal intermittency and the lifetime of chimera states in ensembles of nonlocally coupled chaotic oscillators.

We describe numerical results for the dynamics of networks of nonlocally coupled chaotic maps. Switchings in time between amplitude and phase chimera states have been first established and studied. It has been shown that in autonomous ensembles, a nonstationary regime of switchings has a finite lifetime and represents a transient process towards a stationary regime of phase chimera. The lifetime of the nonstationary switching regime can be increased to infinity by applying short-term noise perturbations.

Cardiovascular System's States under Stress: Reviews of Methods.

A comparative analysis is made of various methods for processing electrocardiograms and RR-interval sequences. This analysis was carried out by using standard nonlinear-dynamics algorithms and methods. Apart from that, we assessed the expediency of using a number of characteristics to classify the cardiovascular system's state under stress.

Phase relationships between two or more interacting processes from one-dimensional time series. I. Basic theory.

A general approach is developed for the detection of phase relationships between two or more different oscillatory processes interacting within a single system, using one-dimensional time series only. It is based on the introduction of angles and radii of return times maps, and on studying the dynamics of the angles. An explicit unique relationship is derived between angles and the conventional phase difference introduced earlier for bivariate data. It is valid under conditions of weak forcing. This correspondence is confirmed numerically for a nonstationary process in a forced Van der Pol system. A model describing the angles' behavior for a dynamical system under weak quasiperiodic forcing with an arbitrary number of independent frequencies is derived.

Phase relationships between two or more interacting processes from one-dimensional time series. II. Application to heart-rate-variability data.

The recently proposed approach to detect synchronization from univariate data is applied to heart-rate-variability (HRV) data from ten healthy humans. The approach involves introducing angles for return times map and studying their behavior. For filtered human HRV data, it is demonstrated that: (i) in many of the subjects studied, interactions between different processes within the cardiovascular system can be considered as weak, and the angles can be well described by the derived model; (ii) in some of the subjects the strengths of the interactions between the processes are sufficiently large that the angles map has a distinctive structure, which is not captured by our model; (iii) synchronization between the processes involved can often be detected; (iv) the instantaneous radii are rather disordered.

Comparative analysis of methods for classifying the cardiovascular system's states under stress.

A comparative analysis is made of various methods for processing electrocardiograms and RR-interval sequences. This analysis was carried out by using standard nonlinear-dynamics algorithms and methods. Apart from that, we assessed the expediency of using a number of characteristics to classify the cardiovascular system's state under stress.

Modelling the dynamics of angles of human R-R intervals.

Heart rate variability (HRV) data from young healthy humans is expanded into two components, namely, the angles and radii of a map of R-R intervals. It is shown that. for most subjects at rest breathing spontaneously, the map of successive angles reveals a highly deterministic structure after the frequency range below approximately 0.05 Hz has been filtered out. However, no obvious low-dimensional structure is found in the map of successive radii. A recently proposed model describing the map of angles for a periodic self-oscillator under external periodic and quasiperiodic forcing is successfully applied to model the dynamics of such angles.

Clustering of noise-induced oscillations.

The subject of our study is clustering in a population of excitable systems driven by Gaussian white noise and with randomly distributed coupling strength. The cluster state is frequency-locked state in which all functional units run at the same noise-induced frequency. Cooperative dynamics of this regime is described in terms of effective synchronization and noise-induced coherence.

Effect of noise on the relaxation to an invariant probability measure of nonhyperbolic chaotic attractors.

We study the influence of external noise on the relaxation to an invariant probability measure for two types of nonhyperbolic chaotic attractors, a spiral (or coherent) and a noncoherent one. We find that for the coherent attractor the rate of mixing changes under the influence of noise, although the largest Lyapunov exponent remains almost unchanged. A mechanism of the noise influence on mixing is presented which is associated with the dynamics of the instantaneous phase of chaotic trajectories. This also explains why the noncoherent regime is robust against the presence of external noise.

Chaotic dynamics from interspike intervals.

Considering two different mathematical models describing chaotic spiking phenomena, namely, an integrate-and-fire and a threshold-crossing model, we discuss the problem of extracting dynamics from interspike intervals (ISIs) and show that the possibilities of computing the largest Lyapunov exponent (LE) from point processes differ between the two models. We also consider the problem of estimating the second LE and the possibility to diagnose hyperchaotic behavior by processing spike trains. Since the second exponent is quite sensitive to the structure of the ISI series, we investigate the problem of its computation.

Phase-frequency synchronization in a chain of periodic oscillators in the presence of noise and harmonic forcings.

We study numerically the effects of noise and periodic forcings on cluster synchronization in a chain of Van der Pol oscillators. We generalize the notion of effective synchronization to the case of a spatially extended system. It is shown that the structure of synchronized clusters can be effectively controlled by applying local external forcings. The effect of amplitude relations on the phase dynamics is also explored.

Phase synchronization between several interacting processes from univariate data.

A novel approach is suggested for detecting the presence or absence of synchronization between two or three interacting processes with different time scales in univariate data. It is based on an angle-of-return-time map. A model is derived to describe analytically the behavior of angles for a periodic oscillator under weak periodic and quasiperiodic forcing. An explicit connection is demonstrated between the return angle and the phase of the external periodic forcing. The technique is tested on simulated nonstationary data and applied to human heart rate variability data.

Extracting dynamics from threshold-crossing interspike intervals: possibilities and limitations.

In this paper we estimate dynamical characteristics of chaotic attractors from sequences of threshold-crossing interspike intervals, and study how the choice of the threshold level (which sets the equation of a secant plane) influences the results of the numerical computations. Under quite general conditions we show that the largest Lyapunov exponent can be estimated from a series of return times to the secant plane, even in the case when some of the loops of the phase space trajectory fail to cross this plane.

Role of multistability in the transition to chaotic phase synchronization.

In this paper we describe the transition to phase synchronization for systems of coupled nonlinear oscillators that individually follow the Feigenbaum route to chaos. A nested structure of phase synchronized regions of different attractor families is observed. With this structure, the transition to nonsynchronous behavior is determined by the loss of stability for the most stable synchronous mode. It is shown that the appearance of hyperchaos and the transition from lag synchronization to phase synchronization are related to the merging of chaotic attractors from different families. Numerical examples using Rossler systems and model maps are given. (c) 1999 American Institute of Physics.