Synchronization Dynamics in Chemical Systems

West Virginia University Research Corporation, Morgantown WV

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the Chemical Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms-A Program (CSDM-A) of the Chemistry Division, Kenneth Showalter and Mark Tinsley and coworkers from West Virginia University will study complex dynamical behavior in chemical systems to gain insights into new types of dynamical behavior in manufactured and living systems. Developing an understanding of such behavior in experimental studies facilitates the development of mathematical model descriptions that are relevant to the behavior of certain living organisms as well as synthetic dynamical systems such as computer networks. Research on new states of synchronization and collective behavior will provide a better understanding of dynamical behaviors pervasive in living systems. The students engaged in this research project are gaining valuable experience in experimental and computational methods for the investigation of dynamical behavior of chemical systems. Networks of coupled chemical oscillators will be investigated in laboratory experiments and computational simulations. Chemical oscillators exhibit relaxation oscillations similar to the oscillatory dynamics of many cellular systems such as neurons and heart cells. Coupled oscillators therefore offer an ideal platform for investigating biologically relevant dynamics. An example to be investigated here is relay synchronization, in which oscillators in a star network synchronize through a hub oscillator that does not synchronize. This is much like the distal communication of neurons that have seemingly unaffected neurons between them. The Showalter/Tinsley team will also investigate extreme events, in which coupled oscillators undergo a large amplitude oscillation after remaining inactive for unpredictably long time spans. Studies of relay synchronization in multiplex networks, in which complex dynamics is exhibited in layers of coupled oscillators, will be carried out. These multiplex networks are known to exhibit chimera and solitary states, where asynchronous or single oscillators exist in a population of otherwise synchronized oscillators. Recent studies of time-multiplexing show that a single oscillator can replicate to a network of identical oscillators. The team will investigate time-multiplexing to gain insight into the dynamics of populations of identical chemical oscillators, in which modes of synchronization are unaffected by heterogeneity. Finally, the research team will endeavor to develop more robust discrete photochemical oscillators by employing catalyst-loaded tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) beads to significantly increase the length of experiments and decrease drift in dynamical behavior. The broader impacts of this work include potential societal benefits from an increased understanding of cellular interactions in biological systems by detailed studies of coupled chemical oscillators, systems that share important dynamical features with cellular systems. This project will provide for the training of graduate and undergraduate students in experimental and computational methods, and will engage them in the development of computer-interfaced instrumentation. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.