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Background and Objectives: the coupling of EEG signals during an epileptic seizure in patients during coma is being studied. Materials and Methods: the analysis of the applicability of the method of detecting the interaction between oscillatory systems based on the phase dynamics modeling to EEG signals during an epilepsy seizure in comatose patients is carried out. Results: a method of preliminary filtering of EEG signals has been proposed and the values of the method parameters have been selected, which allow obtaining reliable estimates of directional coupling at a significance level of 0.05. As an example, the analysis of the couplings between EEG signals of two patients with the mentioned pathologies was carried out using the method of the coupling estimation developed in this work.

Noise can induce coherent oscillations in excitable systems without periodic orbits. Here, we establish a method to derive a hybrid system approximating the noise-induced coherent oscillations in excitable systems and further perform phase reduction of the hybrid system to derive an effective, dimensionality-reduced phase equation. We apply the reduced phase model to a periodically forced excitable system and two-coupled excitable systems, both undergoing noise-induced oscillations. The reduced phase model can quantitatively predict the entrainment of a single system to the periodic force and the mutual synchronization of two coupled systems, including the phase slipping behavior due to noise, as verified by Monte Carlo simulations. The derived phase model gives a simple and efficient description of noise-induced oscillations and can be applied to the analysis of more general cases.

We consider the phase locking of two delay-coupled quasi-cycles. A coupled envelope-phase system obtained via stochastic averaging enables a stability analysis. While for deterministic limit-cycle oscillators the coupling can produce in-phase, antiphase, and the intermediate “out-of-phase” locking (OPL) behavior via spontaneous symmetry breaking, such outcomes for the quasi-cycle case are shown to require instead both noise and coupling delay. The theory, which applies the stochastic averaging method to delayed dynamics, generates stochastic stability functions that predict the numerically observed OPL behavior as a function of all the system parameters. OPL for coupled quasi-cycles occurs for additive or multiplicative noise, and for coupled networks of excitatory and inhibitory neurons as well as networks of inhibitory neurons coupled to one another. Our theory also predicts that the bifurcation at which the in-phase state becomes unstable lies at smaller delays for stronger noise. The noise produces the realistic quasi-cycle rhythms and out-of-phase behavior, all the while causing random reversals of the phase leader. Asymmetry in the coupling between networks, as well as heterogeneity within each network, also allows for quasi-cycle OPL, although it produces asymmetric bifurcations that bias the leadership towards one of the networks. These results are relevant to communication between brain areas and other networks that rely on noise-induced rather than noise-perturbed rhythms.

Increased exposition to blue light may induce many changes in cell behavior and significantly affect the critical characteristics of cells. Here we show that multimodal holographic microscopy (MHM) within advanced image analysis is capable of correctly distinguishing between changes in cell motility, cell dry mass, cell density, and cell death induced by blue light. We focused on the effect of blue light with a wavelength of 485 nm on morphological and dynamical parameters of four cell lines, malignant PC-3, A2780, G361 cell lines, and the benign PNT1A cell line. We used MHM with blue light doses 24 mJ/cm2, 208 mJ/cm2 and two kinds of expositions (500 and 1000 ms) to acquire real-time quantitative phase information about cellular parameters. It has been shown that specific doses of the blue light significantly influence cell motility, cell dry mass and cell density. These changes were often specific for the malignant status of tested cells. Blue light dose 208 mJ/cm2 × 1000 ms affected malignant cell motility but did not change the motility of benign cell line PNT1A. This light dose also significantly decreased proliferation activity in all tested cell lines but was not so deleterious for benign cell line PNT1A as for malignant cells. Light dose 208 mJ/cm2 × 1000 ms oppositely affected cell mass in A2780 and PC-3 cells and induced different types of cell death in A2780 and G361 cell lines. Cells obtained the least damage on lower doses of light with shorter time of exposition.

Josephson junctions with weak links of exotic materials allow the elucidation of the Josephson effect in previously unexplored regimes. Further, such devices offer a direct probe of novel material properties, for example, in the search for Majorana fermions. In this paper, we report on dc and ac Josephson effect of high-mobility, hexagonal boron nitride encapsulated graphene Josephson junctions. On the application of rf radiation, we measure phase-locked Shapiro steps. An unexpected bistability between ±1 steps is observed with switching times on the order of seconds. A critical scaling of the bistable state is measured directly from the switching time, allowing for direct comparison to numerical simulations. We show such intermittent chaotic behavior is a consequence of the nonlinear dynamics of the junction and has a sensitive dependence on the current-phase relation. This paper draws connections between nonlinear phenomena in dynamical systems and their implications for ongoing condensed matter experiments exploring topology and exotic physics.

In this work, the mode analysis technique of complex networks nonlinear selfoscillatory vortex-based spin-torque nano-oscillattors (STNOs) with nonidentity and nonisochrony is developed. We construct adjacency matrices of different type of networks and calculate the normal modes. After the calculation of normal modes we shift to truncated equations for slowly varying amplitudes and phases in the normal coordinates using generalized quasi-Hamiltonian approach. Finally, we present the phase dynamics based on the Kuramotoapproach and compare different networks to the ability of synchronization.

Although much empirical evidence has demonstrated that p53 plays a key role in tumor suppression, the dynamics and function of the regulatory network centered on p53 have not yet been fully understood. Here, we develop a Boolean network model to reproduce the two-phase dynamics of the p53 network in response to DNA damage. In particular, we map the fates of cells into two types of Boolean attractors, and we find that the apoptosis attractor does not exist for minor DNA damage, reflecting that the cell is reparable. As the amount of DNA damage increases, the basin of the repair attractor shrinks, accompanied by the rising of the apoptosis attractor and the expansion of its basin, indicating that the cell becomes more irreparable with more DNA damage. For severe DNA damage, the repair attractor vanishes, and the apoptosis attractor dominates the state space, accounting for the exclusive fate of death. Based on the Boolean network model, we explore the significance of links, in terms of the sensitivity of the two-phase dynamics, to perturbing the weights of links and removing them. We find that the links are either critical or ordinary, rather than redundant. This implies that the p53 network is irreducible, but tolerant of small mutations at some ordinary links, and this can be interpreted with evolutionary theory. We further devised practical control schemes for steering the system into the apoptosis attractor in the presence of DNA damage by pinning the state of a single node or perturbing the weight of a single link. Our approach offers insights into understanding and controlling the p53 network, which is of paramount importance for medical treatment and genetic engineering.

Coupled oscillator networks often display transitions between qualitatively different phase-locked solutions—such as synchrony and rotating wave solutions—following perturbation or parameter variation. In the limit of weak coupling, these transitions can be understood in terms of commonly studied phase approximations. As the coupling strength increases, however, predicting the location and criticality of transition, whether continuous or discontinuous, from the phase dynamics may depend on the order of the phase approximation—or a phase description of the network dynamics that neglects amplitudes may become impossible altogether. Here we analyze synchronization transitions and their criticality systematically for varying coupling strength in theory and experiments with coupled electrochemical oscillators. First, we analyze bifurcations analysis of synchrony and splay states in an abstract phase model and discuss conditions under which synchronization transitions with different criticalities are possible. In particular, we show that such conditions can be understood by considering the relative contributions of higher harmonics to the phase dynamics. Second, we illustrate that transitions with different criticality indeed occur in experimental systems. Third, we highlight that the amplitude dynamics observed in the experiments can be captured in a numerical bifurcation analysis of delay-coupled oscillators. Our results showcase that reduced order phase models may miss important features that one would expect in the dynamics of the full system.

We experimentally investigate the electronic transport properties of a three-terminal graphene Josephson junction. We find that self-heating effects strongly influence the behavior of this multiterminal Josephson junction (MTJJ) system. We show that existing simulation methods based on resistively and capacitively shunted Josephson junction networks can be significantly improved by taking into account these heating effects. We also investigate the phase dynamics in our MTJJ by measuring its switching current distribution and find correlated switching events in different junctions. We show that the switching dynamics is governed by phase diffusion at low temperatures. Furthermore, we find that self-heating introduces additional damping that results in overdamped I−V characteristics when normal and supercurrents coexist in the device.

Many biological systems synchronize their movement through physical interactions. By far, the most well-studied examples concern physical interactions through a fluid: Beating cilia, swimming sperm and worms, and flapping wings all display synchronization behavior through fluid mechanical interactions. However, as the density of a collective increases, individuals may also interact with each other through physical contact. In the field of “active matter” systems, it is well known that inelastic contact between individuals can produce long-range correlations in position, orientation, and velocity. In this work, we demonstrate that contact interactions between undulating robots yield novel phase dynamics such as synchronized motions. We consider undulatory systems in which rhythmic motion emerges from time-independent oscillators that sense and respond to an undulatory bending angle and speed. In pair experiments, we demonstrate that robot joints will synchronize to in-phase and antiphase oscillations through collisions, and a phase-oscillator model describes the stability of these modes. To understand how contact interactions influence the phase dynamics of larger groups, we perform simulations and experiments of simple three-link undulatory robots that interact only through contact. Collectives synchronize their movements through contact as predicted by the theory, and when the robots can adjust their position in response to contact, we no longer observe antiphase synchronization. Lastly, we demonstrate that synchronization dramatically reduces the interaction forces within confined groups of undulatory robots, indicating significant energetic and safety benefits from group synchronization. The theory and experiments in this study illustrate how contact interactions in undulatory active matter can lead to novel collective motion and synchronization.

We investigate the superconducting lifetime of a long overdamped current-biasedJosephson junction, in the presence of telegraph noise sources. The analysis is performed byrandomly choosing the initial condition for the noise source. However, in order to investigatehow the initial value of the dichotomous noise affects the phase dynamics, we extend ouranalysis using two different fixed initial values for the source of random fluctuations. In ourstudy, the phase dynamics of the Josephson junction is analyzed as a function of the noisesignal intensity, for different values of the parameters of the system and external drivingcurrents. We find that the mean lifetime of the superconductive metastable state as a functionof the noise intensity is characterized by nonmonotonic behavior, strongly related to thesoliton dynamics during the switching towards the resistive state. The role of the correlationtime of the noise source is also taken into account. Noise-enhanced stability is observed inthe investigated system.

There are still essential aspects regarding cathodes requiring a comprehensive understanding. These include identifying the underlying phenomena that prevent reaching the theoretical capacity, explaining irreversible losses, and determining the cut-off potentials at which batteries should be cycled. We address these inquiries by investigating the cell’s capacity and phase dynamics by looking into the transport properties of electrons. This approach underlines the crucial role of electrons in influencing battery performance, similar to their significance in other materials and devices such as transistors, thermoelectrics, or superconductors. We use lithium iron phosphate LFP as a case study to demonstrate that understanding the electrochemical cycling behavior of a battery cell, particularly a Li//LFP configuration, hinges on factors like the total local potentials used to calculate chemical potentials, electronic density of states (DOS), and charge carrier densities. Our findings reveal that the stable plateau potential difference is 3.42 V, with maximum charge and minimum discharge potentials at 4.12 V and 2.80 V, respectively. The study illustrates the dynamic formation of metastable phases at a plateau voltage exceeding 3.52 V. Moreover, we establish that determining the working chemical potentials of elements like Li and Al can be achieved by combining their workfunction and DOS analysis. Additionally, we shed light on the role of carbon black beyond conductivity enhancement. Through Density functional theory (DFT) calculations and experimental methods involving scanning Kelvin probe (SKP) and electrochemical analysis, we comprehensively examine various materials, including Li, C, Al, Cu, LFP, FePO _4 , Li _0.25 FePO _4 , polyvinylidene fluoride, and Li _6 PS _5 Cl. The insights derived from this study, which solely rely on electrical properties, have broad applicability to all cathodes and batteries. They provide valuable information for efficiently selecting optimal formulations and conditions for cycling batteries.

The role of the phase dynamics in turbulence is investigated. As a demonstration of the importance of the phase dynamics, a simplified system is used, namely the one-dimensional Burgers equation, which is evolved numerically. The system is forced via a known external force, with two components that are added into the evolution equations of the amplitudes and the phase of the Fourier modes, separately. In this way, we are able to control the impact of the force on the dynamics of the phases. In the absence of the direct forcing in the phase equation, it is observed that the phases are not stochastic as assumed in the Random Phase Approximation (RPA) models, and in contrast, the non-linear couplings result in intermittent locking of the phases to ± π/2. The impact of the force, applied purely on the phases, is to increase the occurrence of the phase locking events in which the phases of the modes in a wide k range are now locked to ± π/2, leading to a change in the dynamics of both phases and amplitudes, with a significant localization of the real space flow structures.

We consider a one-dimensional driven-dissipative exciton-polariton condensate under incoherent pump, described by the stochastic generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation. It was shown that the condensate phase dynamics maps under some assumptions to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation, and the temporal coherence of the condensate follows a stretched exponential decay characterized by KPZ universal exponents. In this paper, we determine the main mechanisms, which lead to the departure from the KPZ phase, and identify three possible other regimes: (i) a soliton-patterned regime at large interactions and weak noise, populated by localized structures analog to dark solitons; (ii) a vortex-disordered regime at high noise and weak interactions, dominated by point-like phase defects in space-time; and (iii) a defect-free reservoir-textured regime where the adiabatic approximation breaks down. We characterize each regime by the space-time maps, the first-order correlations, the momentum distribution and the density of topological defects. We thus obtain the phase diagram at varying noise, pump intensity and interaction strength. Our predictions are amenable to observation in state-of-art experiments with exciton-polaritons.

We investigate the relevance of chaotic saddles and unstable periodic orbits at the onset of intermittent chaos in the phase dynamics of nonlinear Alfvén waves by using the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky (KS) equation as a model for phase dynamics. We focus on the role of nonattracting chaotic solutions of the KS equation, known as chaotic saddles, in the transition from weak chaos to strong chaos via an interior crisis and show how two of these unstable chaotic saddles can interact to produce the plasma intermittency observed in the strongly chaotic regimes. The dynamical systems approach discussed in this work can lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the phenomena of intermittency in space plasmas.

The purpose of this paper is to study the processes of spatial disorder and the development of phase multistability in a discrete medium of anharmonic oscillators. Methods. An ensemble of diffusively coupled van der Pol oscillators is used as a model of discrete anharmonic medium. The model is investigated by numerical simulation; its phase dynamics is studied. The formed spatial structures are visualized by means of phase difference distribution. Results. It is shown that the ensemble of van der Pol generators demonstrates spatially irregular wave modes when the parameter of anharmonicity exceeds certain threshold value. This phenomenon is similar to appearance of strange waves in ensemble of anharmonic phase oscillators. Regularities of evolution of these waves with parameters change are investigated. Regions of existence and stability of the waves are built. It is shown that the strange wave modes form multistability, since stability regions of waves with different numbers of phase defects overlap. Conclusion. Transition from harmonic to relaxation oscillations can be followed by a spatial disorder, because of phase failures that might take place at arbitrary points of the discrete self-oscillating medium. This effect increases with the growth of anharmonicity. As a result, the medium is divided into a lot of clusters with almost in-phase and out-of-phase behaviors. Such clusters interact, demonstrating mutual repulsion. The observed phenomena may be interesting for understanding the processes of spatial organization and formation of structures in self-oscillating media with simple temporal dynamics. Acknowledgements. The reported study was funded by RFBR and DFG according to the research project no. 20-52-12004

Td-WTe2 is a topologically nontrivial material and exhibits a variety of physical properties, such as giant unsaturated magnetoresistance and the unconventional thermoelectric effect, due to its topological nature. It is also known to exhibit ultrafast topological phase transitions that restore its inversion symmetry by intense terahertz and mid-infrared pulses, and these properties demonstrate the possibility of ultrafast control of devices based on topological properties. Recently, a novel photo-induced topological phase transition by using polarization-controlled infrared excitation has been proposed, which is expected to control the material topology by rearranging the atomic orbitals near the Weyl point. To examine this topological phase transition, we experimentally studied the excitation-polarization dependence of the infrared-induced phase dynamics in a thin-layer of Td-WTe2. Time-resolved second harmonic generation (SHG) measurements showed that SHG intensity decreases after the infrared pump regardless of the polarization. Polarization-resolved infrared pump–probe measurements indicated that the polarization-selected excited state relaxes quite rapidly (i.e., within 10–40 fs). Considering these experimental results, we conclude that it is difficult to control the photo-induced phase transition through orbital-selective excitation owing to the rapid loss of carrier distribution created by polarization-selective excitation in thin-layer Td-WTe2 under our experimental condition. These results indicate that the suppression of the electron scattering process is crucial for experimentally realizing the photo-induced phase transition based on the polarization selection rule of the materials.

The statistics of the fluctuations of quantum many-body systems are highly revealing of their nature. In driven-dissipative systems displaying macroscopic quantum coherence, as exciton polariton condensates under incoherent pumping, the phase dynamics can be mapped to the stochastic Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation. However, it was argued theoretically that in two dimensions the KPZ regime may be hindered by the presence of vortices, and a nonequilibrium Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless behavior was reported close to the condensation threshold. We demonstrate here that, when a discretized two-dimensional (2D) polariton system is considered, universal KPZ properties can emerge. We support our analysis by extensive numerical simulations of the discrete stochastic generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We show that the first-order correlation function of the condensate exhibits stretched exponential behaviors in space and time with critical exponents characteristic of the 2D KPZ universality class and find that the related scaling function accurately matches the KPZ theoretical one, stemming from functional renormalization group. We also obtain the distribution of the phase fluctuations and find that it is non-Gaussian, as expected for a KPZ stochastic process.

This paper presents a control structure integrating guidance and control loops for tail-controlled missile systems. Motivated by the fact that common tail-controlled missiles involve non-minimum phase dynamics, the proposed controller is designed to prevent the internal dynamics from diverging, as well as achieving homing against the intended target. To minimize the miss distance at the end of homing, we derive a formulation of a zero-effort-miss using engagement kinematics that contain the rotating dynamics of the missile, which is different from existing approaches. Subsequently, to nullify the zero-effort-miss, a nonlinear controller is designed based on the Lyapunov stability theory. Since the derived controller has a similar structure to the conventional three-loop topology that has been utilized for various tail-controlled flight systems, it is expected that the proposed method can be applied to the actual system from a practical point of view. Numerical simulation results also show that the proposed method achieves target interception while possessing stable internal dynamics.

The phase sensitivity curve or phase response curve (PRC) quantifies the oscillator’s reaction to stimulation at a specific phase and is a primary characteristic of a self-sustained oscillatory unit. Knowledge of this curve yields a phase dynamics description of the oscillator for arbitrary weak forcing. Similar, though much less studied characteristic, is the amplitude response that can be defined either using an ad hoc approach to amplitude estimation or via the isostable variables. Here, we discuss the problem of the phase and amplitude response inference from observations using test stimulation. Although PRC determination for noise-free neuronal-like oscillators perturbed by narrow pulses is a well-known task, the general case remains a challenging problem. Even more challenging is the inference of the amplitude response. This characteristic is crucial, e.g. for controlling the amplitude of the collective mode in a network of interacting units—a task relevant to neuroscience. Here, we compare the performance of different techniques suitable for inferring the phase and amplitude response, particularly with application to macroscopic oscillators. We suggest improvements to these techniques, e.g. demonstrating how to obtain the PRC in case of stimuli of arbitrary shape. Our main result is a novel technique denoted by IPID-1, based on the direct reconstruction of the Winfree equation and the analogous first-order equation for isostable dynamics. The technique works for signals with or without well-pronounced marker events and pulses of arbitrary shape; in particular, we consider charge-balanced pulses typical in neuroscience applications. Moreover, this technique is superior for noisy and high-dimensional systems. Additionally, we describe an error measure that can be computed solely from data and complements any inference technique.

Swarmalators are entities with the simultaneous presence of swarming and synchronization that reveal emergent collective behavior due to the fascinating bidirectional interplay between phase and spatial dynamics. Although different coupling topologies have already been considered, here we introduce time-varying competitive phase interaction among swarmalators where the underlying connectivity for attractive and repulsive coupling varies depending on the vision (sensing) radius. Apart from investigating some fundamental properties like conservation of center of position and collision avoidance, we also scrutinize the cases of extreme limits of vision radius. The concurrence of attractive–repulsive competitive phase coupling allows the exploration of diverse asymptotic states, like static π , and mixed phase wave states, and we explore the feasible routes of those states through a detailed numerical analysis. In sole presence of attractive local coupling, we reveal the occurrence of static cluster synchronization where the number of clusters depends crucially on the initial distribution of positions and phases of each swarmalator. In addition, we analytically calculate the sufficient condition for the emergence of the static synchronization state. We further report the appearance of the static ring phase wave state and evaluate its radius theoretically. Finally, we validate our findings using Stuart–Landau oscillators to describe the phase dynamics of swarmalators subject to attractive local coupling.

We study the reduction of the supercurrent by a gate electrode in a purely metallic superconductor–normal metal–superconductor Josephson junction by performing, on the same device, a detailed investigation of the gate-dependent switching probability together with the local tunneling spectroscopy of the normal metal. We demonstrate that high energy electrons leaking from the gate trigger the reduction of the critical current which is accompanied by an important broadening of the switching histograms. The switching rates are well described by an activation formula including an additional term accounting for the injection of rare high energy electrons from the gate. The rate of electrons obtained from the fit remarkably coincides with the independently measured leakage current. Concomitantly, a negligible elevation of the local temperature in the junction is found by tunneling spectroscopy which excludes stationary heating induced by the leakage current as a possible explanation of the reduction of the critical current. This incompatibility is resolved by the fact that phase dynamics and thermalization effects occur at different timescales.

The initial stage of a magnetospheric substorm is the growth phase, which typically lasts 1–2 h. During the growth phase, an equatorward moving, east–west extended, optical auroral arc is observed. This is called a growth-phase arc. This work aims to characterize the optical emission and riometer absorption signatures associated with growth-phase arcs of isolated substorms. This is done using simultaneous all-sky camera and imaging riometer observations. The optical and riometric observations allow determination of the location of the precipitation within growth-phase arcs of low- ( 10 keV) energy electrons, respectively. The observations indicate that growth-phase arcs have the following characteristics: 1. The peak of the cosmic noise absorption (CNA) arc is equatorward of the optical emission arc. This CNA is contained within the region of diffuse aurora on the equatorward side.2. Optical pulsating aurora are seen in the border region between the diffuse emission region on the equatorward side and the bright growth-phase arc on the poleward side. CNA is detected in the same region. 3. There is no evidence of pulsations in the CNA. 4. Once the equatorward drift starts, it proceeds at constant speed, with uniform separation between the growth-phase arc and CNA of 40 ± 10 km. Optical pulsating aurora are known to be prominent in the post-onset phase of a substorm. The fact that pulsations are also seen in a fairly localized region during the growth phase shows that the substorm expansion-phase dynamics are not required to closely precede the pulsating aurora.

We derive a unified amplitude-phase decomposition for both noisy limit cycles and quasicycles; in the latter case, the oscillatory motion has no deterministic counterpart. We extend a previous amplitude-phase decomposition approach using the stochastic averaging method (SAM) for quasicycles by taking into account nonlinear terms up to order 3. We further take into account the case of coupled networks where each isolated network can be in a quasi- or noisy limit-cycle regime. The method is illustrated on two models which exhibit a deterministic supercritical Hopf bifurcation: the Stochastic Wilson-Cowan model of neural rhythms, and the Stochastic Stuart-Landau model in physics. At the level of a single oscillatory module, the amplitude process of each of these models decouples from the phase process to the lowest order, allowing a Fokker-Planck estimate of the amplitude probability density. The peak of this density captures well the transition between the two regimes. The model describes accurately the effect of Gaussian white noise as well as of correlated noise. Bursting epochs in the limit-cycle regime are in fact favored by noise with shorter correlation time or stronger intensity. Quasicycle and noisy limit-cycle dynamics are associated with, respectively, Rayleigh-type and Gaussian-like amplitude densities. This provides an additional tool to distinguish quasicycle from limit-cycle origins of bursty rhythms. The case of multiple oscillatory modules with excitatory all-to-all delayed coupling results in a system of stochastic coupled amplitude-phase equations that keeps all the biophysical parameters of the initial networks and again works across the Hopf bifurcation. The theory is illustrated for small heterogeneous networks of oscillatory modules. Numerical simulations of the amplitude-phase dynamics obtained through the SAM are in good agreement with those of the original oscillatory networks. In the deterministic and nearly identical oscillators limits, the stochastic Stuart-Landau model leads to the stochastic Kuramoto model of interacting phases. The approach can be tailored to networks with different frequency, topology, and stochastic inputs, thus providing a general and flexible framework to analyze noisy oscillations continuously across the underlying deterministic bifurcation.

Several complex systems can be modeled as large networks in which the state of the nodes continuously evolves through interactions among neighboring nodes, forming a high-dimensional nonlinear dynamical system. One of the main challenges of Network science consists in predicting the impact of network topology and dynamics on the evolution of the states and, especially, on the emergence of collective phenomena, such as synchronization. We address this problem by proposing a Dynamics Approximate Reduction Technique (DART) that maps high-dimensional (complete) dynamics unto low-dimensional (reduced) dynamics while preserving the most salient features, both topological and dynamical, of the original system. DART generalizes recent approaches for dimension reduction by allowing the treatment of complex-valued dynamical variables, heterogeneities in the intrinsic properties of the nodes as well as modular networks with strongly interacting communities. Most importantly, we identify three major reduction procedures whose relative accuracy depends on whether the evolution of the states is mainly determined by the intrinsic dynamics, the degree sequence, or the adjacency matrix. We use phase synchronization of oscillator networks as a benchmark for our threefold method. We successfully predict the synchronization curves for three phase dynamics (Winfree, Kuramoto, theta) on the stochastic block model. Moreover, we obtain the bifurcations of the Kuramoto-Sakaguchi model on the mean stochastic block model with asymmetric blocks and we show numerically the existence of periphery chimera state on the two-star graph. This allows us to highlight the critical role played by the asymmetry of community sizes on the existence of chimera states. Finally, we systematically recover well-known analytical results on explosive synchronization by using DART for the Kuramoto-Sakaguchi model on the star graph. Our work provides a unifying framework for studying a vast class of dynamical systems on networks.

The recent introduction of chronotaxic systems provides the means to describe nonautonomous systems with stable yet time-varying frequencies which are resistant to continuous external perturbations. This approach facilitates realistic characterization of the oscillations observed in living systems, including the observation of transitions in dynamics which were not considered previously. The novelty of this approach necessitated the development of a new set of methods for the inference of the dynamics and interactions present in chronotaxic systems. These methods, based on Bayesian inference and detrended fluctuation analysis, can identify chronotaxicity in phase dynamics extracted from a single time series. Here, they are applied to numerical examples and real experimental electroencephalogram (EEG) data. We also review the current methods, including their assumptions and limitations, elaborate on their implementation, and discuss future perspectives.

By starting from a microscopic quantum mechanical description of Josephson dynamics of a one-dimensional array of N coupled superconductors, we obtain a set of linear differential equations for the system order parameter and for additional macroscopic physical quantities. With opportune considerations, we adapt this description to two coupled superconductors, obtaining the celebrated Feynman model for Josephson junctions. These results confirm the correspondence between the microscopic picture and the semi-classical Ohta’s model adopted in describing the superconducting phase dynamics in multi-barrier Josephson junctions.

Spin-torque nano-oscillators (STO) are candidates for the next technological implementation of spintronic devices in commercial electronic systems. For use in microwave applications, improving the noise figures by efficient control of their phase dynamics is a mandatory requirement. In order to achieve this, we developed a compact phase locked loop (PLL) based on custom integrated circuits (ICs) and demonstrate that it represents an efficient way to reduce the phase noise level of a vortex based STO. The advantage of our approach to phase stabilize STOs is that our compact system is highly reconfigurable e.g. in terms of the frequency divider ratio N, RF gain and loop gain. This makes it robust against device to device variations and at the same time compatible with a large range of STOs. Moreover, by taking advantage of the natural highly non-isochronous nature of the STO, the STO frequency can be easily controlled by e.g. changing the divider ratio N.

We develop a general theoretical framework of semiclassical phase reduction for analyzing synchronization of quantum limit-cycle oscillators. The dynamics of quantum dissipative systems exhibiting limit-cycle oscillations are reduced to a simple, one-dimensional classical stochastic differential equation approximately describing the phase dynamics of the system under the semiclassical approximation. The density matrix and power spectrum of the original quantum system can be approximately reconstructed from the reduced phase equation. The developed framework enables us to analyze synchronization dynamics of quantum limit-cycle oscillators using the standard methods for classical limit-cycle oscillators in a quantitative way. As an example, we analyze synchronization of a quantum van der Pol oscillator under harmonic driving and squeezing, including the case that the squeezing is strong and the oscillation is asymmetric. The developed framework provides insights into the relation between quantum and classical synchronization and will facilitate systematic analysis and control of quantum nonlinear oscillators.

The problem of the linear instability of quasi-geostrophic Rossby waves to zonal flow perturbations is investigated on an infinite β-plane using a phase dynamics formalism. Equations governing the coupled evolutions of a zonal velocity perturbation and phase and amplitude perturbations of a finite-amplitude wave are obtained. The analysis is valid in the limit of infinitesimal, zonally invariant perturbation components, varying slowly in the meridional direction and with respect to time. In the case of a slow sinusoidal meridional variation of the perturbation components, analytical expressions for the perturbation growth rates are obtained, which are checked against numerical codes based on standard Floquet theory.

Synchronization is studied using a pair of diffusively-coupled, two-layer quasi-geostrophic systems each comprising a single baroclinic wave and a zonal flow. In particular, the coupling between the systems is in the well-known master-slave or one-way configuration. Nonlinear time series analysis, phase dynamics, and bifurcation diagrams are used to study the dynamics of the coupled system. Phase synchronization, imperfect synchronization (phase slips), or complete synchronization are found, depending upon the strength of coupling, when the systems are either in a periodic or a chaotic regime. The results of investigations when the dynamics of each system are in different regimes are also presented. These results also show evidence of phase synchronization and signs of chaos control.

In a model drift wave system that is interesting both in fluids and plasmas, we find that an embedded moving saddle point plays an important role at the onset of turbulence. Here the saddle point is actually a saddle steady wave, in its moving frame the wave system can be transformed into a set of coupled oscillators whose motion is affected by the saddle steady wave as if it is a potential. It is found that a collision with the saddle point triggers a crisis, following the collision another dynamic event occurs which involves a transition in the phase state of the master oscillator. Only after the latter event the spatial regularity is destroyed. The phase dynamics before and after the transition is further investigated. It is found that in a spatially coherent state before the transition the oscillators reach a functional phase synchronization collectively with or without phase slips, after the transition in the turbulent state an on-off imperfect synchronization is established among the oscillators with long wavelengths. When the synchronization is on, their amplitudes grow up simultaneously, giving rise to a burst in the total wave energy. A power law behavior is observed in the correlation function between phases of the oscillators. Potential application of our results in prediction of energy bursts in turbulence is discussed.

The phase dynamics of a stack of long Josephson junctions has been studied. Both inductive and capacitive couplings between Josephson junctions have been taken into account in the calculations. The IV-curve, the dependence on the bias current of the radiation power and dynamics of each JJs of the stack have been investigated. The coexistence of the charge traveling wave and fluxon states has been observed. This state can be considered as a new collective excitation in the system of coupled Josephson junctions. We demonstrate that the observed collective excitation leads to the decrease of radiation power from the system.

Wetlands are thought to be the major contributor to interannual variability in the growth rate of atmospheric methane (CH _4 ) with anomalies driven by the influence of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Yet it remains unclear whether (i) the increase in total global CH _4 emissions during El Niño versus La Niña events is from wetlands and (ii) how large the contribution of wetland CH _4 emissions is to the interannual variability of atmospheric CH _4 . We used a terrestrial ecosystem model that includes permafrost and wetland dynamics to estimate CH _4 emissions, forced by three separate meteorological reanalyses and one gridded observational climate dataset, to simulate the spatio-temporal dynamics of wetland CH _4 emissions from 1980–2016. The simulations show that while wetland CH _4 responds with negative annual anomalies during the El Niño events, the instantaneous growth rate of wetland CH _4 emissions exhibits complex phase dynamics. We find that wetland CH _4 instantaneous growth rates were declined at the onset of the 2015–2016 El Niño event but then increased to a record-high at later stages of the El Niño event (January through May 2016). We also find evidence for a step increase of CH _4 emissions by 7.8±1.6 Tg CH _4 yr ^−1 during 2007–2014 compared to the average of 2000–2006 from simulations using meteorological reanalyses, which is equivalent to a ~3.5 ppb yr ^−1 rise in CH _4 concentrations. The step increase is mainly caused by the expansion of wetland area in the tropics (30°S–30°N) due to an enhancement of tropical precipitation as indicated by the suite of the meteorological reanalyses. Our study highlights the role of wetlands, and the complex temporal phasing with ENSO, in driving the variability and trends of atmospheric CH _4 concentrations. In addition, the need to account for uncertainty in meteorological forcings is highlighted in addressing the interannual variability and decadal-scale trends of wetland CH _4 fluxes.

Driven-dissipative systems in two dimensions can differ substantially from their equilibrium counterparts. In particular, a dramatic loss of off-diagonal algebraic order and superfluidity has been predicted to occur because of the interplay between coherent dynamics and external drive and dissipation in the thermodynamic limit. We show here that the order adopted by the system can be substantially altered by a simple, experimentally viable tuning of the driving process. More precisely, by considering the long-wavelength phase dynamics of a polariton quantum fluid in the optical parametric oscillator regime, we demonstrate that simply changing the strength of the pumping mechanism in an appropriate parameter range can substantially alter the level of effective spatial anisotropy induced by the driving laser and move the system into distinct scaling regimes. These include (i) the classic algebraically ordered superfluid below the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition, as in equilibrium; (ii) the nonequilibrium, long-wavelength-fluctuation-dominated Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) phase; and the two associated topological-defect-dominated disordered phases caused by proliferation of (iii) entropic BKT vortex-antivortex pairs or (iv) repelling vortices in the KPZ phase. Furthermore, by analyzing the renormalization group flow in a finite system, we examine the length scales associated with these phases and assess their observability in current experimental conditions.

Nonlinear relaxation phenomena in three different systems of condensed matter are investigated. (i) First, the phase dynamics in Josephson junctions is analyzed. Specifically, a superconductor-graphene-superconductor (SGS) system exhibits quantum metastable states, and the average escape time from these metastable states in the presence of Gaussian and correlated fluctuations is calculated, accounting for variations in the the noise source intensity and the bias frequency. Moreover, the transient dynamics of a long-overlap Josephson junction (JJ) subject to thermal fluctuations and non-Gaussian noise sources is investigated. Noise induced phenomena are observed, such as the noise enhanced stability and the stochastic resonant activation. (ii) Second, the electron spin relaxation process in a n-type GaAs bulk driven by a fluctuating electric field is investigated. In particular, by using a Monte Carlo approach, we study the influence of a random telegraph noise on the spin polarized transport. Our findings show the possibility to raise the spin relaxation length by increasing the amplitude of the external fluctuations. Moreover, we find that, crucially, depending on the value of the external field strength, the electron spin depolarization length versus the noise correlation time increases up to a plateau. (iii) Finally, the stabilization of quantum metastable states by dissipation is presented. Normally, quantum fluctuations enhance the escape from metastable states in the presence of dissipation. We show that dissipation can enhance the stability of a quantum metastable system, consisting of a particle moving in a strongly asymmetric double well potential, interacting with a thermal bath. We find that the escape time from the metastable region has a nonmonotonic behavior versus the system- bath coupling and the temperature, producing a stabilizing effect.

The phase dynamics of the stacked long Josephson junctions is investigated taking into account the inductive and capacitive couplings between junctions and the diffusion current. The simulation of the current–voltage characteristics is based on the numerical solution of a system of nonlinear partial differential equations by a fourth order Runge–Kutta method and finite-difference approximation. A parallel implementation is based on the MPI technique. The effectiveness of the MPI/C++ code is confirmed by calculations on the multi-processor cluster CICC (LIT JINR, Dubna). We demonstrate the appearance of the charge traveling wave (CTW) at the boundary of the zero field step. Based on this fact, we conclude that the CTW and the fluxons coexist.

We study a physical system consisting of a Bose–Einstein condensate confined to a ring shaped lattice potential interrupted by three weak links. The system is assumed to be driven by an effective flux piercing the ring lattice. By employing path integral techniques, we explore the effective quantum dynamics of the system in a pure quantum phase dynamics regime. Moreover, the effects of the density’s quantum fluctuations are studied through exact diagonalization analysis of the spectroscopy of the Bose–Hubbard model. We demonstrate that a clear two-level system emerges by tuning the magnetic flux at degeneracy. The lattice confinement, platform for the condensate, is realized experimentally employing a spatial light modulator.

We present a novel approach for recovery of the directional connectivity of a small oscillator network by means of the phase dynamics reconstruction from multivariate time series data. The main idea is to use a triplet analysis instead of the traditional pairwise one. Our technique reveals an effective phase connectivity which is generally not equivalent to a structural one. We demonstrate that by comparing the coupling functions from all possible triplets of oscillators, we are able to achieve in the reconstruction a good separation between existing and non-existing connections, and thus reliably reproduce the network structure.

Synchronization has been reported for a wide range of self-oscillating systems. However, even though it has been predicted theoretically for several decades, the experimental realization of phase self-oscillation, sometimes called phase trapping, in the high driving regime has been studied only recently. We explored in detail the phase dynamics in a synchronized field emission SiC nanoelectromechanical system with intrinsic feedback. A richer variety of phase behavior has been unambiguously identified, implying phase modulation and inertia. This synchronization regime is expected to have implications for the comprehension of the dynamics of interacting self-oscillating networks and for the generation of frequency modulated signals at the nanoscale.

We study the mean-field dynamics and the reduced-dimension character of two-mode Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) in highly anisotropic traps. By means of perturbative techniques, we show that the tightly confined (transverse) degrees of freedom can be decoupled from the dynamical equations at the expense of introducing additional effective three-body, attractive, intra- and inter-mode interactions into the dynamics of the loosely confined (longitudinal) degrees of freedom. These effective interactions are mediated by changes in the transverse wave function. The perturbation theory is valid as long as the nonlinear scattering energy is small compared to the transverse energy scales. This approach leads to reduced-dimension mean-field equations that optimally describe the evolution of a two-mode condensate in general quasi-one-dimensional (1D) and quasi-two-dimensional geometries. We use this model to investigate the relative phase and density dynamics of a two-mode, cigar-shaped ^87 Rb BEC. We study the relative-phase dynamics in the context of a nonlinear Ramsey interferometry scheme, which has recently been proposed as a novel platform for high-precision interferometry. Numerical integration of the coupled, time-dependent, three-dimensional, two-mode Gross–Pitaevskii equations for various atom numbers shows that this model gives a considerably more refined analytical account of the mean-field evolution than an idealized quasi-1D description.

We employ a nonequilibrium energy balance and carrier rate equation model based on microscopic semiconductor theory to describe the quantum-dot (QD) laser dynamics under optical injection and time-delayed feedback. The model goes beyond typical phenomenological approximations of rate equations, such as the α -factor, yet allows for a thorough numerical bifurcation analysis, which would not be possible with the computationally demanding microscopic equations. We find that with QD lasers, independent amplitude and phase dynamics may lead to less complicated scenarios under optical perturbations than predicted by conventional models using the α -factor to describe the carrier-induced refractive index change. For instance, in the short external cavity feedback regime, higher critical feedback strength is actually required to induce instabilities. Generally, the α -factor should only be used when the carrier distribution can follow the QD laser dynamics adiabatically.

Phase plays a crucial role in many quantum effects including interference. Here we lay the foundations for the study of phase in probabilistic theories more generally. Phase is normally defined in terms of complex numbers that appear when representing quantum states as complex vectors. Here we give an operational definition whereby phase is instead defined in terms of measurement statistics. Our definition is phrased in terms of the operational framework known as generalized probabilistic theories or the convex framework . The definition makes it possible to ask whether other theories in this framework can also have phase. We apply our definition to investigate phase and interference in several example theories: classical probability theory, a version of Spekkens' toy model, quantum theory and box-world. We find that phase is ubiquitous; any non-classical theory can be said to have non-trivial phase dynamics.