1,452 research outputs found
Winnerless competition between sensory neurons generates chaos: A possible mechanism for molluscan hunting behavior
© 2002 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics.In the presence of prey, the marine mollusk Clione limacina exhibits search behavior, i.e., circular motions whose plane and radius change in a chaotic-like manner. We have formulated a dynamical model of the chaotic hunting behavior of Clione based on physiological in vivo and in vitroexperiments. The model includes a description of the action of the cerebral hunting interneuron on the receptor neurons of the gravity sensory organ, the statocyst. A network of six receptor model neurons with Lotka–Volterra-type dynamics and nonsymmetric inhibitory interactions has no simple static attractors that correspond to winner take all phenomena. Instead, the winnerless competition induced by the hunting neuron displays hyperchaos with two positive Lyapunov exponents. The origin of the chaos is related to the interaction of two clusters of receptor neurons that are described with two heteroclinic loops in phase space. We hypothesize that the chaotic activity of the receptor neurons can drive the complex behavior of Clione observed during hunting.Support for this work came from NIH Grant No. 2R01 NS38022- 05A1. P.V. acknowledges support from MCT BFI2000-0157. M.R. acknowledges support from U.S. Department of Energy Grant No. DE-FG03-96ER14592
Interface-Induced Plasmon Nonhomogeneity in Nanostructured Metal-Dielectric Planar Metamaterial
Transformations of the electronic structure in thin silver layers in metal-dielectric (TiAlN/Ag) multilayer nanocomposite were investigated by a set of electron spectroscopy techniques. Localization of the electronic states in the valence band and reduction of electron concentration in the conduction band was observed. This led to decreasing metallic properties of silver in the thin films. A critical layer thickness of 23.5 nm associated with the development of quantum effects was determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Scanning Auger electron microscopy of characteristic energy losses provided images of plasmon localization in the Ag layers. The nonuniformity of plasmon intensities distribution near the metal-nitride interfaces was assessed experimentally
Penta-hepta defect chaos in a model for rotating hexagonal convection
In a model for rotating non-Boussinesq convection with mean flow we identify
a regime of spatio-temporal chaos that is based on a hexagonal planform and is
sustained by the {\it induced nucleation} of dislocations by penta-hepta
defects. The probability distribution function for the number of defects
deviates substantially from the usually observed Poisson-type distribution. It
implies strong correlations between the defects inthe form of density-dependent
creation and annihilation rates of defects. We extract these rates from the
distribution function and also directly from the defect dynamics.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PR
Robustness and Enhancement of Neural Synchronization by Activity-Dependent Coupling
We study the synchronization of two model neurons coupled through a synapse
having an activity-dependent strength. Our synapse follows the rules of
Spike-Timing Dependent Plasticity (STDP). We show that this plasticity of the
coupling between neurons produces enlarged frequency locking zones and results
in synchronization that is more rapid and much more robust against noise than
classical synchronization arising from connections with constant strength. We
also present a simple discrete map model that demonstrates the generality of
the phenomenon.Comment: 4 pages, accepted for publication in PR
Essential spectra of difference operators on \sZ^n-periodic graphs
Let (\cX, \rho) be a discrete metric space. We suppose that the group
\sZ^n acts freely on and that the number of orbits of with respect to
this action is finite. Then we call a \sZ^n-periodic discrete metric
space. We examine the Fredholm property and essential spectra of band-dominated
operators on where is a \sZ^n-periodic discrete metric space.
Our approach is based on the theory of band-dominated operators on \sZ^n and
their limit operators.
In case is the set of vertices of a combinatorial graph, the graph
structure defines a Schr\"{o}dinger operator on in a natural way. We
illustrate our approach by determining the essential spectra of Schr\"{o}dinger
operators with slowly oscillating potential both on zig-zag and on hexagonal
graphs, the latter being related to nano-structures
Turbulence near cyclic fold bifurcations in birhythmic media
We show that at the onset of a cyclic fold bifurcation, a birhythmic medium
composed of glycolytic oscillators displays turbulent dynamics. By computing
the largest Lyapunov exponent, the spatial correlation function, and the
average transient lifetime, we classify it as a weak turbulence with transient
nature. Virtual heterogeneities generating unstable fast oscillations are the
mechanism of the transient turbulence. In the presence of wavenumber
instability, unstable oscillations can be reinjected leading to stationary
turbulence. We also find similar turbulence in a cell cycle model. These
findings suggest that weak turbulence may be universal in biochemical
birhythmic media exhibiting cyclic fold bifurcations.Comment: 14 pages 10 figure
Synchronous Behavior of Two Coupled Electronic Neurons
We report on experimental studies of synchronization phenomena in a pair of
analog electronic neurons (ENs). The ENs were designed to reproduce the
observed membrane voltage oscillations of isolated biological neurons from the
stomatogastric ganglion of the California spiny lobster Panulirus interruptus.
The ENs are simple analog circuits which integrate four dimensional
differential equations representing fast and slow subcellular mechanisms that
produce the characteristic regular/chaotic spiking-bursting behavior of these
cells. In this paper we study their dynamical behavior as we couple them in the
same configurations as we have done for their counterpart biological neurons.
The interconnections we use for these neural oscillators are both direct
electrical connections and excitatory and inhibitory chemical connections: each
realized by analog circuitry and suggested by biological examples. We provide
here quantitative evidence that the ENs and the biological neurons behave
similarly when coupled in the same manner. They each display well defined
bifurcations in their mutual synchronization and regularization. We report
briefly on an experiment on coupled biological neurons and four dimensional ENs
which provides further ground for testing the validity of our numerical and
electronic models of individual neural behavior. Our experiments as a whole
present interesting new examples of regularization and synchronization in
coupled nonlinear oscillators.Comment: 26 pages, 10 figure
Intermittent accreting millisecond pulsars: light houses with broken lamps?
Intermittent accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars are an exciting new type of
sources. Their pulsations appear and disappear either on timescales of hundreds
of seconds or on timescales of days. The study of these sources add new
observational constraints to present models that explain the presence or not of
pulsations in neutron star LMXBs. In this paper we present preliminary results
on spectral and aperiodic variability studies of all intermittent AMSPs, with a
particular focus on the comparison between pulsating and non pulsating periods.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; to appear in the proceedings of the workshop "A
Decade of Accreting Millisecond X-ray Pulsars", Amsterdam, April 2008, eds.
R. Wijnands et al. (AIP Conf. Proc.
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