Front interaction induces excitable behavior

Spatially extended systems can support local transient excitations in which just a part of the system is excited. The mechanisms reported so far are local excitability and excitation of a localized structure. Here we introduce an alternative mechanism based on the coexistence of two homogeneous stab...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. E 2017-02, Vol.95 (2-1), p.020201-020201, Article 020201
Main Authors: Parra-Rivas, P, Matías, M A, Colet, P, Gelens, L, Walgraef, D, Gomila, D
Format: Article
Language:English
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Spatially extended systems can support local transient excitations in which just a part of the system is excited. The mechanisms reported so far are local excitability and excitation of a localized structure. Here we introduce an alternative mechanism based on the coexistence of two homogeneous stable states and spatial coupling. We show the existence of a threshold for perturbations of the homogeneous state. Subthreshold perturbations decay exponentially. Superthreshold perturbations induce the emergence of a long-lived structure formed by two back to back fronts that join the two homogeneous states. While in typical excitability the trajectory follows the remnants of a limit cycle, here reinjection is provided by front interaction, such that fronts slowly approach each other until eventually annihilating. This front-mediated mechanism shows that extended systems with no oscillatory regimes can display excitability.
ISSN:2470-0045
2470-0053
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevE.95.020201