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Spontaneous contractions of cardiomyocytes are driven by calcium oscillations due to the activity of ionic calcium channels and pumps. The beating phase is related to the time-dependent deviation of the oscillations from their average frequency, due to noise and the resulting cellular response. Here, we demonstrate experimentally that, in addition to the short-time (1--2 Hz), beat-to-beat variability, there are long-time correlations (tens of minutes) in the beating phase dynamics of isolated cardiomyocytes. Our theoretical model relates these long-time correlations to cellular regulation that restores the frequency to its average, homeostatic value in response to stochastic perturbations.

The authors show that neural networks exhibiting noise-induced rhythms, also known as quasi-cycle oscillations, can synchronize through out-of-phase locking depending on the noise intensity and the size of the coupling delay

A method for the estimation of the Lyapunov exponent corresponding to enslaved phase dynamics from time series has been proposed. It is valid for both nonautonomous systems demonstrating periodic dynamics in the presence of noise and coupled chaotic oscillators and allows us to estimate precisely enough the value of this Lyapunov exponent in the supercritical region of the control parameters. The main results are illustrated with the help of the examples of the noised circle map, the nonautonomous Van der Pole oscillator in the presence of noise, and coupled chaotic Rössler systems.

Chronotaxic systems represent deterministic nonautonomous oscillatory systems which are capable of resisting continuous external perturbations while having a complex time-dependent dynamics. Until their recent introduction in \emph{Phys. Rev. Lett.} \textbf{111}, 024101 (2013) chronotaxic systems had often been treated as stochastic, inappropriately, and the deterministic component had been ignored. While the previous work addressed the case of the decoupled amplitude and phase dynamics, in this paper we develop a generalized theory of chronotaxic systems where such decoupling is not required. The theory presented is based on the concept of a time-dependent point attractor or a driven steady state and on the contraction theory of dynamical systems. This simplifies the analysis of chronotaxic systems and makes possible the identification of chronotaxic systems with time-varying parameters. All types of chronotaxic dynamics are classified and their properties are discussed using the nonautonomous Poincar\'e oscillator as an example. We demonstrate that these types differ in their transient dynamics towards a driven steady state and according to their response to external perturbations. Various possible realizations of chronotaxic systems are discussed, including systems with temporal chronotaxicity and interacting chronotaxic systems., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures

We study theoretically the non linear polarization dynamics of Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers in the presence of an external cavity providing delayed optical feedback and cross polarization re-injection. We show that far from the laser threshold, the dynamics remains confined close to the equatorial plane of a Stokes sphere of a given radius and we reduce the dynamics to a dynamical system composed of two phases: the orientation phase of the quasi-linear polarization and the optical phase of the field. We explore the complex modal structure given by the double feedback configuration and recovers as particular cases the Lang-Kobayashi modes and the modes founds by Giudici et al. [1]. We also re-interpret the square waves switching dynamics as phase kinks.

We study the nonlinear phase equation for propagating patterns. We investigate the transition from a propagating localized pattern to a space-filling spatiotemporally disordered pattern and discuss in detail to what extent there are propagating localized states that breathe in time periodically, quasiperiodically, and chaotically. Differences and similarities to the phenomena occurring for the quintic complex Ginzburg-Landau equation are elucidated. We also discuss for which experimentally accessible systems one could observe the phenomena described.

Even though synchronization in autonomous systems has been observed for over three centuries, reports of systematic experimental studies on synchronized oscillators are limited. Here, we report on observations of internal synchronization in coupled silicon micromechanical oscillators associated with a reduction in the relative phase random walk that is modulated by the magnitude of the reactive coupling force between the oscillators. Additionally, for the first time, a significant improvement in the frequency stability of synchronized micromechanical oscillators is reported. The concept presented here is scalable and could be suitably engineered to establish the basis for a new class of highly precise miniaturized clocks and frequency references.

We carry out a thorough analysis on a class of cosmological spacetimes which admit three space-like Killing vectors of Bianchi class B and contain electromagnetic fields. Using dynamical system analysis, we show that a family of vacuum plane-wave solutions of the Einstein-Maxwell equations is the stable attractor for expanding universes. Phase dynamics are investigated in detail for particular symmetric models. We integrate the system exactly for some special cases to confirm the qualitative features. Some of the obtained solutions have not been presented previously to the best of our knowledge. Finally, based on those solutions, we discuss the relation between those homogeneous models and perturbations of open FLRW universes. We argue that the vacuum plane-wave modes correspond to a certain long-wavelength limit of electromagnetic perturbations., Revised for publication. 25 pages

In a directional viscous fingering experiment, a phase diffusion behavior of the regular array of cells is demonstrated. At constant wave number, the evolution of the phase diffusion coefficient D with the parameter of the instability \ensuremath{\epsilon} is reported. This coefficient D is found to decrease at low \ensuremath{\epsilon} values in agreement with the presence of an Eckhaus instability, but to increase strongly at large \ensuremath{\epsilon} values. This unusual increase of D is also present in the analytical and numerical study of two coupled amplitude equations for the modes k and 2k. The phase diffusion coefficient is found to diverge at the threshold of the parity-breaking bifurcation.

We analyze the phase properties of a strong cavity field interacting with an ensemble of initially excited N two-level atoms. Using the Pegg-Barnett phase formalism [Phys. Rev. A 39, 1665 (1989)], we calculate the phase probability distribution as well as the phase variance. The phase probability density exhibits a (N+1)-peak structure at the initial stages of the evolution. The phase variance is used to illustrate the progressive randomization of the phase on the long-time evolution. The difference in the phase dynamics for the N even and the N odd case is pointed out.

Phase models are a powerful method to quantify the coupled dynamics of nonlinear oscillators from measured data. We use two phase modeling methods to quantify the dynamics of pairs of coupled electrochemical oscillators, based on the phases of the two oscillators independently and the phase difference, respectively. We discuss the benefits of the two-dimensional approach relative to the one-dimensional approach using phase difference. We quantify the dependence of the coupling functions on the coupling magnitude and coupling time delay. We show differences in synchronization predictions of the two models using a toy model. We show that the two-dimensional approach reveals behavior not detected by the one-dimensional model in a driven experimental oscillator. This approach is broadly applicable to quantify interactions between nonlinear oscillators, especially where intrinsic oscillator sensitivity and coupling evolve with time.

We systematically develop a technique for reconstructing the phase dynamics equations for coupled oscillators from data. For autonomous oscillators and for two interacting oscillators we demonstrate how phase estimates obtained from general scalar observables can be transformed to genuine phases. This allows us to obtain an invariant description of the phase dynamics in terms of the genuine, observable-independent phases. We discuss the importance of this transformation for characterization of strength and directionality of interaction from bivariate data. Moreover, we demonstrate that natural (autonomous) frequencies of oscillators can be recovered if several observations of coupled systems at different, yet unknown coupling strengths are available. We illustrate our method by several numerical examples and apply it to a human electrocardiogram and to a physical experiment with coupled metronomes.

We propose a natural two-speed model for the phase dynamics of Si(111) 7x7 phase transition to high-temperature unreconstructed phase. We formulate the phase dynamics by using phase-field method and adaptive mesh refinement. Our simulated results show that a 7x7 island decays with its shape kept unchanged, and its area decay rate is shown to be a constant increasing with its initial area. Low-energy electron microscopy experiments concerned are explained, which confirms that the dimer chains and corner holes are broken first in the transition, and then the stacking fault is remedied slowly. This phase-field method is a reliable approach to phase dynamics of surface phase transitions.

Based on the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation (CGLE), a new mapping model of oscillatory media is proposed. The present dynamics is fully determined by an effective phase field renormalized by amplitude. The model exhibits phase turbulence, amplitude turbulence, and a frozen state reported in the CGLE. In addition, we find a state in which the phase and amplitude have spiral structures with opposite rotational directions. This state is found to be observed also in the CGLE. Thus, one concludes that the behaviors observed in the CGLE can be described by only the phase dynamics appropriately constructed.

The phase difference in coupled chaotic oscillators exhibits a small noiselike fast fluctuation in long-term phase dynamics. The fast fluctuation can cause an error in the measurement of the period of the temporary phase locking state. We discuss why we should filter out the fast fluctuation on determination of periodic phase synchronization.

We measure the velocities of the mean flows that are driven by curved rolls in a pattern formation system. Curved rolls in Faraday waves are generated in experimental cells consisting of channels with varying widths. The mean flow magnitudes are found to scale linearly with roll curvatures and squares of wave amplitudes, agreeing with the prediction from the analysis of phase dynamics expansion. The effects of the mean flows on reducing roll curvatures are also seen.

The relative phase between two uncoupled Bose-Einstein condensates tends to attain a specific value when the phase is measured. This can be done by observing their decay products in interference. We discuss exactly solvable models for this process in cases where competing observation channels drive the phases to different sets of values. We treat the case of two modes which both emit into the input ports of two beam splitters and of a linear or circular chain of modes. In these latter cases, the transitivity of the relative phase becomes an issue.

We discuss the long-wavelength, low-frequency excitations of non- equilibrium systems with a helical structure as observed in spiral vortex flow in the Taylor instability in long cylinders. We find that a single-phase equation can give rise to a propagating mode, a situation unknown from hydrodynamics in local thermodynamic equilibrium.