Mean field theory of assortative networks of phase oscillators

Employing the Kuramoto model as an illustrative example, we show how the use of the mean field approximation can be applied to large networks of phase oscillators with assortativity. We then use the ansatz of Ott and Antonsen [Chaos 19, 037113 (2008)] to reduce the mean field kinetic equations to a system of ordinary differential equations. The resulting formulation is illustrated by application to a network Kuramoto problem with degree assortativity and correlation between the node degrees and the natural oscillation frequencies. Good agreement is found between the solutions of the reduced set of ordinary differential equations obtained from our theory and full simulations of the system. These results highlight the ability of our method to capture all the phase transitions (bifurcations) and system attractors. One interesting result is that degree assortativity can induce transitions from a steady macroscopic state to a temporally oscillating macroscopic state through both (presumed) Hopf and SNIPER (saddle-node, infinite period) bifurcations. Possible use of these techniques to a broad class of phase oscillator network problems is discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Coexisting chaotic and multi-periodic dynamics in a model of cardiac alternans

The spatiotemporal dynamics of cardiac tissue is an active area of research for biologists, physicists, and mathematicians. Of particular interest is the study of period-doubling bifurcations and chaos due to their link with cardiac arrhythmogenesis. In this paper we study the spatiotemporal dynamics of a recently developed model for calcium-driven alternans in a one dimensional cable of tissue. In particular, we observe in the cable coexistence of regions with chaotic and multi-periodic dynamics over wide ranges of parameters. We study these dynamics using global and local Lyapunov exponents and spatial trajectory correlations. Interestingly, near nodes -- or phase reversals -- low-periodic dynamics prevail, while away from the nodes the dynamics tend to be higher-periodic and eventually chaotic. Finally, we show that similar coexisting multi-periodic and chaotic dynamics can also be observed in a detailed ionic model