2,175 research outputs found
On the role of chemical synapses in coupled neurons with noise
We examine the behavior in the presence of noise of an array of Morris-Lecar
neurons coupled via chemical synapses. Special attention is devoted to
comparing this behavior with the better known case of electrical coupling
arising via gap junctions. In particular, our numerical simulations show that
chemical synapses are more efficient than gap junctions in enhancing coherence
at an optimal noise (what is known as array-enhanced coherence resonance): in
the case of (nonlinear) chemical coupling, we observe a substantial increase in
the stochastic coherence of the system, in comparison with (linear) electrical
coupling. We interpret this qualitative difference between both types of
coupling as arising from the fact that chemical synapses only act while the
presynaptic neuron is spiking, whereas gap junctions connect the voltage of the
two neurons at all times. This leads in the electrical coupling case to larger
correlations during interspike time intervals which are detrimental to the
array-enhanced coherence effect. Finally, we report on the existence of a
system-size coherence resonance in this locally coupled system, exhibited by
the average membrane potential of the array.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure
State selection in the noisy stabilized Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation
In this work, we study the 1D stabilized Kuramoto Sivashinsky equation with
additive uncorrelated stochastic noise. The Eckhaus stable band of the
deterministic equation collapses to a narrow region near the center of the
band. This is consistent with the behavior of the phase diffusion constants of
these states. Some connections to the phenomenon of state selection in driven
out of equilibrium systems are made.Comment: 8 pages, In version 3 we corrected minor/typo error
External Fluctuations in a Pattern-Forming Instability
The effect of external fluctuations on the formation of spatial patterns is
analysed by means of a stochastic Swift-Hohenberg model with multiplicative
space-correlated noise. Numerical simulations in two dimensions show a shift of
the bifurcation point controlled by the intensity of the multiplicative noise.
This shift takes place in the ordering direction (i.e. produces patterns), but
its magnitude decreases with that of the noise correlation length. Analytical
arguments are presented to explain these facts.Comment: 11 pages, Revtex, 10 Postscript figures added with psfig style
(included). To appear in Physical Review
Geometrical approach to tumor growth
Tumor growth has a number of features in common with a physical process known
as molecular beam epitaxy. Both growth processes are characterized by the
constraint of growth development to the body border, and surface diffusion of
cells/particles at the growing edge. However, tumor growth implies an
approximate spherical symmetry that makes necessary a geometrical treatment of
the growth equations. The basic model was introduced in a former article [C.
Escudero, Phys. Rev. E 73, 020902(R) (2006)], and in the present work we extend
our analysis and try to shed light on the possible geometrical principles that
drive tumor growth. We present two-dimensional models that reproduce the
experimental observations, and analyse the unexplored three-dimensional case,
for which new conclusions on tumor growth are derived
Episodic synchronization in dynamically driven neurons
We examine the response of type II excitable neurons to trains of synaptic
pulses, as a function of the pulse frequency and amplitude. We show that the
resonant behavior characteristic of type II excitability, already described for
harmonic inputs, is also present for pulsed inputs. With this in mind, we study
the response of neurons to pulsed input trains whose frequency varies
continuously in time, and observe that the receiving neuron synchronizes
episodically to the input pulses, whenever the pulse frequency lies within the
neuron's locking range. We propose this behavior as a mechanism of rate-code
detection in neuronal populations. The results are obtained both in numerical
simulations of the Morris-Lecar model and in an electronic implementation of
the FitzHugh-Nagumo system, evidencing the robustness of the phenomenon.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure
Bistable phase control via rocking in a nonlinear electronic oscillator
We experimentally demonstrate the effective rocking of a nonlinear electronic
circuit operating in a periodic regime. Namely, we show that driving a Chua
circuit with a periodic signal, whose phase alternates (also periodically) in
time, we lock the oscillation frequency of the circuit to that of the driving
signal, and its phase to one of two possible values shifted by pi, and lying
between the alternating phases of the input signal. In this way, we show that a
rocked nonlinear oscillator displays phase bistability. We interpret the
experimental results via a theoretical analysis of rocking on a simple
oscillator model, based on a normal form description (complex Landau equation)
of the rocked Hopf bifurcationComment: 7 pages, 10 figure
Fluctuations in a diffusive medium with gain
We present a stochastic model for amplifying, diffusive media like, for
instance, random lasers. Starting from a simple random-walk model, we derive a
stochastic partial differential equation for the energy field with contains a
multiplicative random-advection term yielding intermittency and power-law
distributions of the field itself. Dimensional analysis indicate that such
features are more likely to be observed for small enough samples and in lower
spatial dimensions
Noise-Induced Phase Separation: Mean-Field Results
We present a study of a phase-separation process induced by the presence of
spatially-correlated multiplicative noise. We develop a mean-field approach
suitable for conserved-order-parameter systems and use it to obtain the phase
diagram of the model. Mean-field results are compared with numerical
simulations of the complete model in two dimensions. Additionally, a comparison
between the noise-driven dynamics of conserved and nonconserved systems is made
at the level of the mean-field approximation.Comment: 12 pages (including 6 figures) LaTeX file. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Phase Separation Driven by External Fluctuations
The influence of external fluctuations in phase separation processes is
analysed. These fluctuations arise from random variations of an external
control parameter. A linear stability analysis of the homogeneous state shows
that phase separation dynamics can be induced by external noise. The spatial
structure of the noise is found to have a relevant role in this phenomenon.
Numerical simulations confirm these results. A comparison with order-disorder
noise induced phase transitions is also made.Comment: 4 pages, 4 Postscript figures included in text. LaTeX (with Revtex
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Timing cellular decision making under noise via cell-cell communication
Many cellular processes require decision making mechanisms, which must act reliably even in the unavoidable presence of substantial amounts of noise. However, the multistable genetic switches that underlie most decision-making processes are dominated by fluctuations that can induce random jumps between alternative cellular states. Here we show, via theoretical modeling of a population of noise-driven bistable genetic switches, that reliable timing of decision-making processes can be accomplished for large enough population sizes, as long as cells are globally coupled by chemical means. In the light of these results, we conjecture that cell proliferation, in the presence of cell-cell communication, could provide a mechanism for reliable decision making in the presence of noise, by triggering cellular transitions only when the whole cell population reaches a certain size. In other words, the summation performed by the cell population would average out the noise and reduce its detrimental impact
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