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Brain oscillations emerge during sensory and cognitive processes and have been classified into different frequency bands. Yet, even within the same frequency band and between nearby brain locations, the exact frequencies of brain oscillations can differ. These frequency differences (detuning) have been largely ignored and play little role in current functional theories of brain oscillations. This contrasts with the crucial role that detuning plays in synchronization theory, as originally derived in physical systems. Here, we propose that detuning is equally important to understand synchronization in biological systems. Detuning is a critical control parameter in synchronization, which is not only important in shaping phase-locking, but also in establishing preferred phase relations between oscillators. We review recent evidence that frequency differences between brain locations are ubiquitous and essential in shaping temporal neural coordination. With the rise of powerful experimental techniques to probe brain oscillations, the contributions of exact frequency and detuning across neural circuits will become increasingly clear and will play a key part in developing a new understanding of the role of oscillations in brain function.

Contains fulltext : 231309.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Objective: The aim of the current study was to attempt to replicate the finding that the individual alpha frequency (IAF) as well as the absolute difference between IAF and 10 Hz stimulation frequency (IAF-prox) is related to treatment outcome. Methods: Correlations were performed to investigate the relationship between IAF-prox and percentage symptom improvement in a sample of 153 patients with major depressive disorder treated with 10 Hz (N = 59) to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) or 1 Hz (N = 94) to the right DLPFC repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS). Results: There was a significant negative correlation between IAF-prox and the percentage of symptom improvement only for the 10 Hz group. Curve fitting models revealed that there was a quadratic association between IAF and treatment response in the 10 Hz group, with a peak at 10 Hz IAF. Conclusion: The main result of Corlier and colleagues was replicated, and the findings suggest that the distance between 10 Hz stimulation frequency and the IAF may influence clinical outcome in a non-linear manner. Significance: rTMS is often administered at a frequency of 10 Hz, which is the center of the EEG alpha frequency band. The results can make a significant contribution to optimizing the clinical application of rTMS. 7 p.

This article studies routes to chaos occurring within a resonance wedge for a 3-parametric family of differential equations acting on a 3-sphere. Our starting point is an autonomous vector field whose flow exhibits a weakly attracting heteroclinic network made by two 1-dimensional connections and a 2-dimensional separatrix between two equilibria with different Morse indices. After changing the parameters, while keeping the 1-dimensional connections unaltered, we concentrate our study in the case where the 2-dimensional invariant manifolds of the equilibria do not intersect. We derive the first return map near the ghost of the attractor and we reduce the analysis of the system to a 2-dimensional map on the cylinder. Complex dynamical features arise from a discrete-time Bogdanov-Takens singularity, which may be seen as the organizing center by which one can obtain infinitely many attracting tori, strange attractors, infinitely many sinks and non-trivial contracting wandering domains. These dynamical phenomena occur within a structure that we call resonance wedge. As an application, we may see the "classical" Arnold tongue as a projection of a resonance wedge. The results are general, extend to other contexts and lead to a fine-tuning of the theory., Comment: 32 pages, 14 figures

There are few explicit examples in the literature of vector fields exhibiting observable chaos that may be proved analytically. This paper reports numerical experiments performed for an explicit two-parameter family of [Formula: see text]-symmetric vector fields whose organizing center exhibits an attracting heteroclinic network linking two saddle-foci. Each vector field in the family is the restriction to [Formula: see text] of a polynomial vector field in [Formula: see text]. We investigate global bifurcations due to symmetry-breaking and we detect strange attractors via a mechanism called Torus-Breakdown. We explain how an attracting torus gets destroyed by following the changes in the unstable manifold of a saddle-focus. Although a complete understanding of the corresponding bifurcation diagram and the mechanisms underlying the dynamical changes is out of reach, we uncover complex patterns for the symmetric family under analysis, using a combination of theoretical tools and computer simulations. This article suggests a route to obtain rotational horseshoes and strange attractors; additionally, we make an attempt to elucidate some of the bifurcations involved in an Arnold tongue.

A stationary cylindrical vessel containing a rotating plate near the bottle surface is partially filled with liquid. With the bottom rotating, the shape of the liquid surface would become polygon-like. This polygon vortex phenomenon is an ideal system to demonstrate the Laminar-Turbulent transition process. Within the framework of equilibrium statistical mechanics, a profound comparison with Landau's phase transition theory was applied in the symmetry-breaking aspect to derive the evolution equation of this system phenomenologically. A comparison between theoretical prediction and experimental data is carried out. We concluded a considerably highly matched result, while some exceptions are viewed as the natural result that the experiment breaks through the up-limit of using equilibrium mechanics as an effective theory, namely breaking through the Arnold Tongue. Some extremely complex Non-equilibrium approaches were desired to solve this problem thoroughly in the future. So our method could be viewed as a linear approximation of this theoretical framework., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. This is the first work of our academic career, and we dedicate it to our parents and all our loved ones

We study the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer condensate subject to a periodic drive. We demonstrate that the combined effect of drive and interactions results in emerging parametric resonances, analogous to a vertically driving pendulum. In particular, Arnold tongues appear when the driving frequency matches 2?0/n, with n being a natural number and ?0 being the equilibrium gap parameter. Inside the Arnold tongues we find a commensurate time-crystal condensate which retains the U(1) symmetry breaking of the parent superfluid/superconducting phase and shows an additional time-translational symmetry breaking. Outside these tongues, the synchronized collective Higgs mode found in quench protocols is stabilized without the need of a strong perturbation. Our results are directly relevant to cold-atom and condensed-matter systems and do not require very long energy relaxation times to be observed.

Towards controlling the frequency of limit cycle locomotion as well as adapting to rough terrain and performing specific tasks, a novel and indirect method has been recently introduced using an active wobbling mass attached to limit cycle walkers. One of the strongest advantages of the method is the easiness of its implementation, prompting its applicability to a wide variety of locomotion systems. To deeply understand the nonlinear dynamics for further enhancement of the methodology, we use a combined rimless wheel with an active wobbling mass as an example to perform nonlinear analysis in this paper. First, we introduce the simplified equation of motion and the gait frequency control method. Second, we obtain Arnold tongue, which represents region of entrained locomotion. In regions where the locomotion is not entrained, we explore chaotic and quasi-periodic gaits. To characterize bistability of two different locomotions that underlie hysteresis phenomena, basins of attraction for the two locomotions were computed. The present nonlinear analysis may help understanding the detailed mechanism of indirectly controlled limit cycle walkers.

We study how a chimera state in a one-dimensional medium of nonlocally coupled oscillators responds to a homogeneous in space periodic in time external force. On a macroscopic level, where a chimera can be considered as an oscillating object, forcing leads to entrainment of the chimera's basic frequency inside an Arnold tongue. On a mesoscopic level, where a chimera can be viewed as an inhomogeneous, stationary, or nonstationary pattern, strong forcing can lead to regularization of an unstationary chimera. On a microscopic level of the dynamics of individual oscillators, forcing outside of the Arnold tongue leads to a multiplateau state with nontrivial locking properties.

For more than 30 years the ‘two-process model’ has played a central role in the understanding of sleep/wake regulation. This ostensibly simple model is an interesting example of a non-smooth dynamical system, whose rich dynamical structure has been relatively unexplored. The two-process model can be framed as a one-dimensional map of the circle, which, for some parameter regimes, has gaps. We show how border collision bifurcations that arise naturally in maps with gaps extend and supplement the Arnold tongue saddle-node bifurcation set that is a feature of continuous circle maps. The novel picture that results shows how the periodic solutions that are created by saddle-node bifurcations in continuous maps transition to periodic solutions created by period-adding bifurcations as seen in maps with gaps.

In ecology, the predator’s impact goes beyond just killing the prey. In the present work, we explore the role of fear in the dynamics of a discrete-time predator-prey model where the predator-prey interaction obeys Holling type-II functional response. Owing to the increasing strength of fear, the system becomes stable from chaotic oscillations via inverse Neimark–Sacker bifurcation. Extensive numerical simulations are carried out to investigate the intricate dynamics for the organization of periodic structures in the bi-parameter space of the system. We observe fear induced multistability between different pairs of coexisting heterogeneous attractors due to the overlapping of multiple periodic domains in the bi-parameter space. The basin sets of the coexisting attractors are obtained and discussed at length. Multistability in the predator-prey system is important because the dynamics of the predator and prey populations in the critical parameter zone becomes uncertain.

In this work we study two types of Discrete Hill’s equation. The first comes from the discretization process of a Continuous-time Hill’s equation, we called Discretized Hill’s equation. The Second is a naturally obtained in Discrete-Time and will be called Discrete-time Hill’s equation. The objective of discretization is preserving the continuous-time behavior and we show this property. On the contrary a completely different dynamic property was found for the Discrete-Time Hill’s equation. At the end of the paper is shown that both types share the nonoscillatory behavior of solutions in the 0-th Arnold Tongue.

We examine the dynamics of cutting-and-shuffling a hemispherical shell driven by alternate rotation about two horizontal axes using the framework of piecewise isometry (PWI) theory. Previous restrictions on how the domain is cut-and-shuffled are relaxed to allow for non-orthogonal rotation axes, adding a new degree of freedom to the PWI. A new computational method for efficiently executing the cutting-and-shuffling using parallel processing allows for extensive parameter sweeps and investigations of mixing protocols that produce a low degree of mixing. Non-orthogonal rotation axes break some of the symmetries that produce poor mixing with orthogonal axes and increase the overall degree of mixing on average. Arnold tongues arising from rational ratios of rotation angles and their intersections, as in the orthogonal axes case, are responsible for many protocols with low degrees of mixing in the non-orthogonal-axes parameter space. Arnold tongue intersections along a fundamental symmetry plane of the system reveal a new and unexpected class of protocols whose dynamics are periodic, with exceptional sets forming polygonal tilings of the hemispherical shell., Comment: 22 pages, 15 figures; added additional inscribed solid that was missed

SummaryModeling studies predict that transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) entrains brain oscillations, yet direct examination has been lacking or potentially contaminated by stimulation artefact. Here we first demonstrate how the posterior parietal cortex drives primary visual cortex and thalamic LP in the alpha-band in head-fixed awake ferrets. The spike-field synchrony is maximum within alpha frequency, and more prominent for narrow-spiking neurons than broad-spiking ones. Guided by a validated model of electric field distribution, we produced electric fields comparable to those in humans and primates (< 0.5 mV/mm). We found evidence to support the model-driven predictions of how tACS entrains neural oscillations as explained by the triangular Arnold tongue pattern. In agreement with the stronger spike-field coupling of narrow-spiking cells, tACS more strongly entrained this cell population. Our findings provide the firstin vivoevidence of how tACS with electric field amplitudes used in human studies entrains neuronal oscillators.

The focus of the work is the “phase lock-on”, a well-known phenomenon observed in oscillating dynamical systems where the forcing and output frequencies are synchronized. This phenomenon appears to be universal with the frequencies related by a rational ratio. We considered the case of an incompressible flow past a confined cylinder where the incident bulk flow is subjected to periodic velocity perturbations. While we considered both Newtonian and non-Newtonian (Bingham) fluids, the main interest was on the Bingham case. Numerical simulations were conducted at a fixed Reynolds number of Re = 100 based on the bulk fluid velocity and cylinder diameter. The relative amplitude of the periodic velocity perturbation was considered in the range 0.10–0.30 and the forcing frequency relative to the natural unforced shedding frequency was in the range 1.4–2.3. These choices yielded fixed lock-on periodic states that correspond to the number 2 on the horizontal axis of an Arnold tongue graph. Yield stress effects are shown for Bingham numbers in the range 0–0.5.

The wobbling kink is the soliton of the \(\phi ^4\) model with an excited internal mode. We outline an asymptotic construction of this particle-like solution that takes into account the coexistence of several space and time scales. The breakdown of the asymptotic expansion at large distances is prevented by introducing the long-range variables “untied” from the short-range oscillations. We formulate a quantitative theory for the fading of the kink’s wobbling due to the second-harmonic radiation, explain the wobbling mode’s longevity and discuss ways to compensate the radiation losses. The compensation is achieved by the spatially uniform driving of the kink, external or parametric, at a variety of resonant frequencies. For the given value of the driving strength, the largest amplitude of the kink’s oscillations is sustained by the parametric pumping — at its natural wobbling frequency. This type of forcing also produces the widest Arnold tongue in the “driving strength versus driving frequency” parameter plane. As for the external driver with the same frequency, it brings about an interesting rack and pinion mechanism that converts the energy of external oscillation to the translational motion of the kink.

We study mode locking in a canonical model of gradient frequency neural networks under periodic forcing. The canonical model is a generic mathematical model for a network of nonlinear oscillators tuned to a range of distinct frequencies. It is mathematically more tractable than biological neuron models and allows close analysis of mode-locking behaviors. Here we analyze individual modes of synchronization for a periodically forced canonical model and present a complete set of driven behaviors for all parameter regimes available in the model. Using a closed-form approximation, we show that the Arnold tongue (i.e., locking region) for $k:m$ synchronization gets narrower as $k$ and $m$ increase. We find that numerical simulations of the canonical model closely follow the analysis of individual modes when forcing is weak, but they deviate at high forcing amplitudes for which oscillator dynamics are simultaneously influenced by multiple modes of synchronization.

The mechanical analog of optical frequency combs, phononic frequency combs, has recently been demonstrated in mechanical resonators and has been attributed to coupling between multiple phonon modes. This paper investigates the influence of mode structure on comb generation using a model of two nonlinearly coupled phonon modes. The model predicts that there is only one region within the amplitude-frequency space where combs exist, and this region is a subset of the Arnold tongue that describes a 2:1 autoparametric resonance between the two modes. In addition, the location and shape of the comb region are analytically defined by the resonance frequencies, quality factors, mode coupling strength, and detuning of the driving force frequency from the mechanical resonances, providing clear conditions for comb generation. These results enable comb structure engineering for applications in areas as broad as sensing, communications, and quantum information science., Comment: 34 pages, 4 figures

We investigate the dynamics of a cobweb type model with nonlinear demand and supply curves in which producers make forecasts on future prices with a backward looking expectation formation mechanism: the expected price for the next period is obtained by a weighted average of the prices observed in the last two periods. The study herewith presents aims at confirming the existence of a locally stabilising effect due to the presence of memory, but an increase of memory in price expectations can be globally qualitatively destabilising, in the sense that it leads to coexistence of different attractors with their respective basins of attraction.

OBJECTIVE Rhythmic brain stimulation has emerged as a powerful tool to modulate cognition and to target pathological oscillations related to neurological and psychiatric disorders. However, we lack a systematic understanding of how periodic stimulation interacts with endogenous neural activity as a function of the brain state and target. APPROACH To address this critical issue, we applied periodic stimulation to a unified biophysical thalamic network model that generates multiple distinct oscillations, and examined thoroughly the impact of rhythmic stimulation on different oscillatory states. MAIN RESULTS We found that rhythmic perturbation induces four basic response mechanisms: entrainment, acceleration, resonance and suppression. Importantly, the appearance and expression of these mechanisms depend highly on the intrinsic cellular dynamics in each state. Specifically, the low-threshold bursting of thalamocortical cells (TCs) in delta (δ) oscillation renders the network relatively insensitive to entrainment; the high-threshold bursting of TCs in alpha (α) oscillation leads to widespread oscillation suppression while the tonic spiking of TC cells in gamma (γ) oscillation results in prominent entrainment and resonance. In addition, we observed entrainment discontinuity during α oscillation that is mediated by firing pattern switching of high-threshold bursting TC cells. Furthermore, we demonstrate that direct excitatory stimulation of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) entrains thalamic oscillations via an asymmetric Arnold tongue that favors higher frequency entrainment and resonance, while stimulation of the inhibitory circuit, the reticular nucleus, induces much weaker and more symmetric entrainment and resonance. These results support the notion that rhythmic stimulation engages brain oscillations in a state- and target-dependent manner. SIGNIFICANCE Overall, our study provides, for the first time, insights into how the biophysics of thalamic oscillations guide the emergence of complex, state-dependent mechanisms of target engagement, which can be leveraged for the future rational design of novel therapeutic stimulation modalities.

Nonautonomous driving of an oscillator has been shown to enlarge the Arnold tongue in parameter space, but little is known about the analogous effect for a network of oscillators. To test the hypothesis that deterministic nonautonomous perturbation is a good candidate for stabilizing complex dynamics, we consider a network of identical phase oscillators driven by an oscillator with a slowly time-varying frequency. We investigate both the short- and long-term stability of the synchronous solutions of this nonautonomous system. For attractive couplings we show that the region of stability grows as the amplitude of the frequency modulation is increased, through the birth of an intermittent synchronization regime. For repulsive couplings, we propose a control strategy to stabilize the dynamics by altering very slightly the network topology. We also show how, without changing the topology, time-variability in the driving frequency can itself stabilize the dynamics. As a byproduct of the analysis, we observe chimeralike states. We conclude that time-variability-induced stability phenomena are also present in networks, reinforcing the idea that this is a quite realistic scenario for living systems to use in maintaining their functioning in the face of ongoing perturbations.

Synchronisation and stability under periodic oscillatory driving are well-understood, but little is known about the effects of aperiodic driving, despite its abundance in nature. Here, we consider oscillators subject to driving with slowly varying frequency, and investigate both short-term and long-term stability properties. For a phase oscillator, we find that, counter-intuitively, such variation is guaranteed to enlarge the Arnold tongue in parameter space. Using analytical and numerical methods that provide information on time-variable dynamical properties, we find that the growth of the Arnold tongue is specifically due to the growth of a region of intermittent synchronisation where trajectories alternate between short-term stability and short-term neutral stability, giving rise to stability on average. We also present examples of higher-dimensional nonlinear oscillators where a similar stabilisation phenomenon is numerically observed. Our findings help support the case that in general, deterministic non-autonomous perturbation is a very good candidate for stabilising complex dynamics., to be published in Phys. Rev. E

Nonlinear oscillations and synchronisation phenomena are ubiquitous in nature. We study the synchronization of self oscillating magneto-optically trapped cold atoms to a weak external driving. The oscillations arise from a dynamical instability due the competition between the screened magneto-optical trapping force and the inter-atomic repulsion due to multiple scattering of light. A weak modulation of the trapping force allows the oscillations of the cloud to synchronize to the driving. The synchronization frequency range increases with the forcing amplitude. The corresponding Arnold tongue is experimentally measured and compared to theoretical predictions. Phase-locking between the oscillator and drive is also observed., Corrected typos

A physical limit of entrainability of nonlinear oscillators is considered for an external weak signal (forcing). This limit of entrainability is characterized by the optimization problem maximizing the width of the Arnold tongue (the frequency-locking range versus forcing magnitude) under certain practical constraints. Here we show a solution to this optimization problem, thanks to a direct link to Holder’s inequality. This solution defines an ideal forcing realizing the entrainment limit, and as the result, a fundamental limit of entrainment is clarified as follows. For 1:1 entrainment, we obtain (i) a construction of the global optimal forcing and a condition for its uniqueness in L p -space with p > 1 , and (ii) a construction of the global optimal pulse-like forcings in L 1 -space, and for m : n entrainment ( m ≠ n ), some informations about the non-existence of the ideal forcing. (iii) In addition, we establish definite algorithms for obtaining the global optimal forcings for 1 p ≤ ∞ and these pulse-like forcings for p = 1 . These theoretical findings are verified by systematic, extensive numerical calculations and simulations.

Many neurons in the auditory system of the brain must encode periodic signals. These neurons under periodic stimulation display rich dynamical states including mode locking and chaotic responses. Periodic stimuli such as sinusoidal waves and amplitude modulated sounds can lead to various forms of n:m mode-locked states, in which a neuron fires n action potentials per m cycles of the stimulus. Here, we study mode-locking in the Izhikevich neurons, a reduced model of the Hodgkin-Huxley neurons. The Izhikevich model is much simpler in terms of the dimension of the coupled nonlinear differential equations compared with other existing models, but excellent for generating the complex spiking patterns observed in real neurons. We obtained the regions of existence of the various mode-locked states on the frequency-amplitude plane, called Arnold tongues, for the Izhikevich neurons. Arnold tongue analysis provides useful insight into the organization of mode-locking behavior of neurons under periodic forcing. We find these tongues for both class-1 and class-2 excitable neurons in both deterministic and noisy regimes.

This paper presents an experimental study of different instability scenarios in a parallelogram-shaped internal wave attractor in a trapezoidal domain filled with a uniformly stratified fluid. Energy is injected into the system via the oscillatory motion of a vertical wall of the trapezoidal domain. Whole-field velocity measurements are performed with the conventional particle image velocimetry technique. In the linear regime, the total kinetic energy of the fluid system is used to quantify the strength of attractors as a function of coordinates in the parameter space defining their zone of existence, the so-called Arnold tongue. In the nonlinear regime, the choice of the operational point in the Arnold tongue is shown to have a significant impact on the scenario of the onset of triadic instability, most notably in terms of the influence of confinement on secondary waves. The onset of triadic resonance instability may occur as a spatially localized event similar to Scolan et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 110, 2013, 234501) in the case of strong focusing or in form of growing normal modes as in McEwan (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 50, 1971, pp. 431–448) for the limiting case of rectangular domain. In the present paper, we describe also a new intermediate scenario for the case of weak focusing. We explore the long-term behaviour of cascades of triadic instabilities in wave attractors and show a persistent trend toward formation of standing-wave patterns corresponding to some discrete peaks of the frequency spectrum. At sufficiently high level of energy injection the system exhibits a ‘mixing box’ regime which has certain qualitatively universal properties regardless to the choice of the operating point in the Arnold tongue. In particular, for this regime, we observe a statistics of events with high horizontal vorticity, which serve as kinematic indicators of mixing.

Quasiperiodicity and chaos in a ring of unidirectionally coupled sigmoidal neurons (a ring neural oscillator) caused by a single shortcut is examined. A codimension-two Hopf–Hopf bifurcation for two periodic solutions exists in a ring of six neurons without self-couplings and in a ring of four neurons with self-couplings in the presence of a shortcut at specific locations. The locus of the Neimark–Sacker bifurcation of the periodic solution emanates from the Hopf–Hopf bifurcation point and a stable quasiperiodic solution is generated. Arnold’s tongues emanate from the locus of the Neimark–Sacker bifurcation, and multiple chaotic oscillations are generated through period-doubling cascades of periodic solutions in the Arnold’s tongues. Further, such chaotic irregular oscillations due to a single shortcut are also observed in propagating oscillations in a ring of Bonhoeffer–van der Pol (BVP) neurons coupled unidirectionally by slow synapses.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has emerged as a potentially safe and effective brain stimulation modality that alters cortical excitability by passing a small, constant electric current through the scalp. tDCS creates an electric field that weakly modulates the membrane voltage of a large number of cortical neurons. Recent human studies have suggested that sine-wave stimulation waveforms [transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS)] represent a more targeted stimulation paradigm for the enhancement of cortical oscillations. Yet, the underlying mechanisms of how periodic, weak global perturbations alter the spatiotemporal dynamics of large-scale cortical network dynamics remain a matter of debate. Here, we simulated large-scale networks of spiking neuron models to address this question in endogenously rhythmic networks. We identified distinct roles of the depolarizing and hyperpolarizing phases of tACS in entrainment, which entailed moving network activity toward and away from a strong nonlinearity provided by the local excitatory coupling of pyramidal cells. Together, these mechanisms gave rise to resonance dynamics characterized by an Arnold tongue centered on the resonance frequency of the network. We then performed multichannel extracellular recordings of multiunit firing activity during tACS in anesthetized ferrets (Mustela putoris furo), a model species with a gyrencephalic brain, to verify that weak global perturbations can selectively enhance oscillations at the applied stimulation frequency. Together, these results provide a detailed mechanistic understanding of tACS at the level of large-scale network dynamics and support the future design of activity-dependent feedback tACS paradigms that dynamically tailor stimulation frequency to the spectral peak of ongoing brain activity.

The functional relevance of brain oscillations in the alpha frequency range (8–13 Hz) has been repeatedly investigated through the use of rhythmic visual stimulation. The underlying mechanism of the steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) measured in EEG during rhythmic stimulation, however, is not known. There are two hypotheses on the origin of SSVEPs: entrainment of brain oscillations and superposition of event-related responses (ERPs). The entrainment but not the superposition hypothesis justifies rhythmic visual stimulation as a means to manipulate brain oscillations, because superposition assumes a linear summation of single responses, independent from ongoing brain oscillations. Here, we stimulated participants with a rhythmic flickering light of different frequencies and intensities. We measured entrainment by comparing the phase coupling of brain oscillations stimulated by rhythmic visual flicker with the oscillations induced by arrhythmic jittered stimulation, varying the time, stimulation frequency, and intensity conditions. In line with a theoretical concept of entrainment (the so called Arnold tongue), we found the phase coupling to be more pronounced with increasing stimulation intensity as well as at stimulation frequencies closer to each participant's intrinsic frequency. Only inside the Arnold tongue did the conditions significantly differ from the jittered stimulation. Furthermore, even in a single sequence of an SSVEP, we found non-linear features (intermittency of phase locking) that contradict the linear summation of single responses, as assumed by the superposition hypothesis. Our findings provide unequivocal evidence that visual rhythmic stimulation entrains brain oscillations, thus validating the approach of rhythmic stimulation as a manipulation of brain oscillations.

Duffing equation is a representative nonlinear equation in practical engineering systems, where the most existing research focuses on local solutions of weakly nonlinear systems. In this paper, we study global bifurcations and chaos of the standard Duffing system by employing the Arnold tongue, and use the basin of attraction to investigate the properties of the Arnold tongue overlap. Our results show that a resonance solution and chaos could coexist, when the parameters are on the Arnold tongue overlap. The phenomenon does not exist in a system described by a weak Duffing equation. Numerical solutions for these bifurcations and chaos are also provided to demonstrate the theoretical results.

Bifurcations and chaos in a network of three identical sigmoidal neurons are examined. The network consists of a two-neuron oscillator of the Wilson–Cowan type and an additional third neuron, which has a simpler structure than chaotic neural networks in the previous studies. A codimension-two fold-pitchfork bifurcation connecting two periodic solutions exists, which is accompanied by the Neimark–Sacker bifurcation. A stable quasiperiodic solution is generated and Arnold’s tongues emanate from the locus of the Neimark–Sacker bifurcation in a two-dimensional parameter space. The merging, splitting and crossing of the Arnold tongues are observed. Further, multiple chaotic attractors are generated through cascades of period-doubling bifurcations of periodic solutions in the Arnold tongues. The chaotic attractors grow and are destroyed through crises. Transient chaos and crisis-induced intermittency due to the crises are also observed. These quasiperiodic solutions and chaotic attractors are robust to small asymmetry in the output function of neurons.

The occurrence of strange non-chaotic attractors (SNA) in quasiperiodically forced systems has attracted considerable interest over the last two decades, in particular since it provides a rich class of examples for the possibility of complicated dynamics in the absence of chaos. Their existence was first described by Millionscikov (and later by Vinograd and also Herman) for quasiperiodic \({\rm SL(2, {\mathbb R})}\) -cocycles and by Grebogi et al (and later Keller) for so-called pinched skew products. However, except for these two particular classes there are still hardly any rigorous results on the topic, despite a large number of numerical studies confirming the widespread existence of SNA in quasiperiodically forced systems. Here, we prove the existence of SNA in quasiperiodically forced circle maps under rather general conditions, which can be stated in terms of \({{\mathcal C}^1}\) -estimates. As a consequence, we obtain the existence of SNA for parameter sets of positive measure in suitable parameter families. These SNA carry the unique physical measure of the system, which determines the behaviour of Lebesgue-almost all initial conditions. Finally, we show that the dynamics are minimal in the considered situations. The results apply in particular to a forced version of the Arnold circle map. For this example, we also describe how the first Arnold tongue collapses and looses its regularity due to the presence of strange non-chaotic attractors and a related unbounded mean motion property.

We consider discrete time systems $x_{k+1}=U(x_{k};\lambda)$, $x\in\R^{N}$, with a complex parameter $\lambda$. The map $U(\cdot;\lambda)$ at infinity contains a principal linear term, a bounded positively homogeneous nonlinearity, and a smaller part. We describe the sets of parameter values for which the large-amplitude $n$-periodic trajectories exist for a fixed $n$. In the related problems on small periodic orbits near zero, similarly defined parameter sets, known as Arnold tongues, are more narrow.

A famous phenomenon in circle-maps and synchronisation problems leads to a two-parameter bifurcation diagram commonly referred to as the Arnol'd tongue scenario. One considers a perturbation of a rigid rotation of a circle, or a system of coupled oscillators. In both cases we have two natural parameters, the coupling strength and a detuning parameter that controls the rotation number/frequency ratio. The typical parameter plane of such systems has Arnol'd tongues with their tips on the decoupling line, opening up into the region where coupling is enabled, and in between these Arnol'd tongues, quasi-periodic arcs. In this paper, we present unified algorithms for computing both Arnol'd tongues and quasi-periodic arcs for both maps and ODEs. The algorithms generalise and improve on the standard methods for computing these objects. We illustrate our methods by numerically investigating the Arnol'd tongue scenario for representative examples, including the well-known Arnol'd circle map family, a periodically forced oscillator caricature, and a system of coupled Van der Pol oscillators.