Aspects of Bifurcation Theory for Piecewise-Smooth, Continuous Systems

Systems that are not smooth can undergo bifurcations that are forbidden in smooth systems. We review some of the phenomena that can occur for piecewise-smooth, continuous maps and flows when a fixed point or an equilibrium collides with a surface on which the system is not smooth. Much of our understanding of these cases relies on a reduction to piecewise linearity near the border-collision. We also review a number of codimension-two bifurcations in which nonlinearity is important.Comment: pdfLaTeX, 9 figure

Delayed feedback control of self-mobile cavity solitons in a wide-aperture laser with a saturable absorber

We investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics of cavity solitons in a broad area vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser with saturable absorption subjected to time-delayed optical feedback. Using a combination of analytical, numerical and path continuation methods we analyze the bifurcation structure of stationary and moving cavity solitons and identify two different types of traveling localized solutions, corresponding to slow and fast motion. We show that the delay impacts both stationary and moving solutions either causing drifting and wiggling dynamics of initially stationary cavity solitons or leading to stabilization of intrinsically moving solutions. Finally, we demonstrate that the fast cavity solitons can be associated with a lateral mode-locking regime in a broad-area laser with a single longitudinal mode

Bifurcation analysis of a normal form for excitable media: Are stable dynamical alternans on a ring possible?

We present a bifurcation analysis of a normal form for travelling waves in one-dimensional excitable media. The normal form which has been recently proposed on phenomenological grounds is given in form of a differential delay equation. The normal form exhibits a symmetry preserving Hopf bifurcation which may coalesce with a saddle-node in a Bogdanov-Takens point, and a symmetry breaking spatially inhomogeneous pitchfork bifurcation. We study here the Hopf bifurcation for the propagation of a single pulse in a ring by means of a center manifold reduction, and for a wave train by means of a multiscale analysis leading to a real Ginzburg-Landau equation as the corresponding amplitude equation. Both, the center manifold reduction and the multiscale analysis show that the Hopf bifurcation is always subcritical independent of the parameters. This may have links to cardiac alternans which have so far been believed to be stable oscillations emanating from a supercritical bifurcation. We discuss the implications for cardiac alternans and revisit the instability in some excitable media where the oscillations had been believed to be stable. In particular, we show that our condition for the onset of the Hopf bifurcation coincides with the well known restitution condition for cardiac alternans.Comment: to be published in Chao

Exact period-four solutions of a family of n-dimensional quadratic maps via harmonic balance and Gröbner bases

Analytical solutions of the period-four orbits exhibited by a classical family of n-dimensionalquadratic maps are presented. Exact expressions are obtained by applying harmonic balance and Grobner bases to a single-input single-output representation of the system. A detailed study of a generalized scalar quadratic map and a well-known delayed logistic model is included for illustration. In the former example, conditions for the existence of bistability phenomenon are also introduced.Fil: D'amico, Edith Maria Belen. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Investigación En Ingeniería Eléctrica; ArgentinaFil: Calandrini, Guillermo. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Matemática; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Investigación en Ingeniería Eléctrica; Argentin

A delay recruitment model of the cardiovascular control system.

Copyright will be owned by Springer. We develop a nonlinear delay-differential equation for the human cardiovascular control system, and use it to explore blood pressure and heart rate variability under short-term baroreflex control. The model incorporates an intrinsically stable heart rate in the absence of nervous control, and features baroreflex influence on both heart rate and peripheral resistance. Analytical simplifications of the model allow a general investigation of the rôles played by gain and delay, and the effects of ageing.