Are circadian amplitudes and periods correlated? A new twist in the story [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]

Three parameters are important to characterize a circadian and in general any biological clock: period, phase and amplitude. While circadian periods have been shown to correlate with entrainment phases, and clock amplitude influences the phase response of an oscillator to pulse-like zeitgeber signals, the co-modulations of amplitude and periods, which we term twist, have not been studied in detail. In this paper we define two concepts: parametric twist refers to amplitude-period correlations arising in ensembles of self-sustained clocks in the absence of external inputs, and phase space twist refers to the co-modulation of an individual clock's amplitude and period in response to external zeitgebers. Our findings show that twist influences the interaction of oscillators with the environment, facilitating entrainment, fastening recovery to pulse-like perturbations or modifying the response of an individual clock to coupling. This theoretical framework might be applied to understand the emerging properties of other oscillating systems

Stability Analysis of a Strongly Displacement Time-Delayed Duffing Oscillator Using Multiple Scales Homotopy Perturbation Method

In the present study, some perturbation methods are applied to Duffing equations having a displacement time-delayed variable to study the stability of such systems. Two approaches are considered to analyze Duffing oscillator having a strong delayed variable. The homotopy perturbation method is applied through the frequency analysis and nonlinear frequency is formulated as a function of all the problem’s parameters. Based on the multiple scales homotopy perturbation method, a uniform second-order periodic solution having a damping part is formulated. Comparing these two approaches reveals the accuracy of using the second approach and further allows studying the stability behavior. Numerical simulations are carried out to validate the analytical finding

Dynamical symmetry breaking in molecules and molecular aggregates

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemistry, 1994.Includes bibliographical references.by Günter Maximilian Schmid.Ph.D

Escape Rates in a Stochastic Environment with Multiple Scales

We consider a stochastic environment with two time scales and outline a general theory that compares two methods to reduce the dimension of the original system. The first method involves the computation of the underlying deterministic center manifold followed by a naive replacement of the stochastic term. The second method allows one to more accurately describe the stochastic effects and involves the derivation of a normal form coordinate transform that is used to find the stochastic center manifold. The results of both methods are used along with the path integral formalism of large fluctuation theory to predict the escape rate from one basin of attraction to another. The general theory is applied to the example of a surface flow described by a generic, singularly perturbed, damped, nonlinear oscillator with additive, Gaussian noise. We show how both nonlinear reduction methods compare in escape rate scaling. Additionally, the center manifolds are shown to predict high pre-history probability regions of escape. The theoretical results are confirmed using numerical computation of the mean escape time and escape prehistory, and we briefly discuss the extension of the theory to stochastic control.Comment: 32 pages, 8 figures, Final revision to appear in SIAM Journal on Applied Dynamical System