ENOC 2011, 24-29 July 2011, Rome, Italy

Nonlinear dynamics phenomena in fractional van der Pol-FitzHugh-Nagumo model

Yu. Luchko*, B. Datsko** and V. Meleshko** Technical University of Applied Sciences, Berlin, Germany ** Institute of Applied Problems of Mechanics and Mathematics, NASU, Lviv, Ukraine
*

Summary. In this article, the stability domains and nonlinear phenomena of dissipative fractional dynamical systems with the fractional derivatives of different orders are discussed. As an example, the van der Pol-FitzHugh-Nagumo model is considered. In particular, the stability domain of this model is investigated for different parameters values. By means of computer simulations some new complex nonlinear dynamic phenomena that cannot be found in dynamical systems of the integer order are identified.

Introduction and problem formulation

Both ordinary and partial differential equations of fractional order have been used within the last few decades for modelling of many physical and chemical processes and in engineering, especially for modelling of the so called anomalous phenomena in the complex systems (see [1,5] and the references therein). The main reason for the utility of the fractional dynamical systems like the ones considered in this paper is that they can be used for representing of the long-memory and non-local dependence of many anomalous processes. In this paper, stability domain and nonlinear dynamics in the van der Pol-FitzHugh-Nagumo-like models of the fractional order are analysed. We investigate a system of the coupled fractional differential equations with the nonlinear feedbacks in the form (1) D u = F (u, A) where D w = d 1 u1 / dt 1 , d 2 u2 / dt 2 is the fractional differential operator, 1 , 2 (0, 2 ) , u = (u1 (t ), u2 (t ))T , u1 (t ), u2 (t ) being the activator and inhibitor variables, respectively, F (u, A) = ( f1 (u1 , u2 , A), f 2 (u1 , u2 , A) )T is a nonlinear vector-function
T

depending on an external parameter A , and the vector = ( 1 , 2 )T represents the characteristic times of the system. The fractional derivatives of order R + are understood in the Caputo sense:
t x (m ) ( ) d 1 ( ) x t = : m 1 < < m, m N . +m 1 d , dt (m ) 0 (t ) In what follows, we consider the case when the ratio 1 / 2 of orders of the fractional derivatives is a rational number. Then the system (1) can be transformed to an equivalent system of the fractional differential equations of the same order ( 1 = p , 2 = r , p , r N ):

e e e e e where D u = (d u11 / dt ,..., d u1ep / dt , d u21 / dt ,..., d u2 r / dt )

e e e D u = F e (u e , A) ,
T

(2)
T

, e = ( 11 ,..., 1p , , 21 ,..., 2 r) T

e e e e e e e F e (u e , A) = (u12 ,..., u1ep , f1 (u11 , u21 , A), u22 ,..., u2 r , f 2 ( u11 , u 21 , A) )

e e , u e = (u11 ,..., u1 p , , u21 ,..., u2 r ) , u11 u1 , u 21 u2 ,

T

Similar to the case of the ordinary differential equations, qualitative behaviour of the solutions to the nonlinear system (2) of fractional order can be investigated on the base of analysis of its main null-clines and singular points. The characteristic equation of the linearized system for (2) can be explicitly written down (see [2]) in the form a a (3) ( ) p + r + ( 1) r 1 22 ( ) p + ( 1) p + 1 11 ( ) r + ( 1) p + r det F L = 0 2 1 where a11 = ( f1 )'u , a12 = ( f1 )'u , a 21 = ( f 2 )'u , a 22 = ( f 2 )'u , det FL = a11a22 a12a21 . In its turn, the analysis of the 1 1
2 2

eigenvalue spectrum allows to construct the instability domains for all singular points of the system (see [3] for details).

Stability analysis and nonlinear dynamics of fractional van der Pol-FitzHugh-Nagumo model
To illustrate a general procedure for the qualitative investigation of solutions to the coupled fractional differential equations, we consider as an example the fractional van der Pol-FitzHugh-Nagumo model with the nonlinear source term f1 = u1 u13 3 + u2 for the activator variable and with the linear source term f 2 = u1 u2 + A for the inhibitor one [4]. The singular points

u1 and u2 that correspond to the null-cline intersection are solutions to the algebraic system f1 = f 2 = 0 . In particular, for the fractional van der Pol-FitzHugh-Nagumo model u1 is a function of the external parameter A and can be determined as a solution to the cubic algebraic equation ( 1)u1 + u13/3 + = 0. (4) 2 Equation (3) with the coefficients a11 = (1 u1 ), a12 = 1, a21 = , a22 = 1 , equation (4) and the condition

ENOC 2011, 24-29 July 2011, Rome, Italy

Arg(i ) < / 2 of stability for fractional linear systems lead to the instability conditions in explicit form at each singular point [3]. For example, in the case 1 = 2 2 = , 0 < < 1 the characteristic equation (3) takes the form

3 + 2 / 2 (1 u12 ) / 1 det FL = 0 and can be solved in the explicit form by the Cardano formulas. The fact, that
this equation has roots with a positive real part can be proved by the perturbation technique, too. The instability domains of the fractional van der Pol-FitzHugh-Nagumo model are determined for different ratios between the orders of the fractional derivatives by means of computer simulations. Both for 1 > 2 and for 1 < 2 the system is unstable within a wide range of the governing parameters (Fig.1) and demonstrates a very complex dynamics (Fig. 2).

1 , 2 : 1 > 2 - (a), 1 = 2 - (b), 1 < 2 - (c). The results of computer simulation for = 2.0 and 1 =1.5, 2 =1.25 1(a) ; 1 =1.75, 2 =1.5 2(a); 1 =1.75, 2 =1.25 3(a); 1 =1.75, 2 =1.0 4(a); 1 = 2 =1.0 1(b); 1 = 2 =1.25 2(b); 1 = 2 = 1.5 3(b); 1 = 2 = 1.75 4(b); 1 =1.25, 2 =1.5 1(c) ; 1 =1.0, 2 =1.75 2(c); 1 =1.5, 2 =1.75 3(c); 1 =1.25, 2 =1.75 4(c);
Fig. 1: Instability domains for different ratios between

(a)

(b)

(c)

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Fig. 2: Examples of the time-domain oscillations (left) and the corresponding two-dimensional phase portraits (right) for different values of fractional derivatives: Dynamics of variables n1 (black lines) and n2 (grey lines) for : 1 =1.5,

2 =0.75, b = 1.01 , A = 0.0 (a); 1 =0.8, 2 =0.4 , b = 2.0 , A = 0.4 (b); 1 =1.5, 2 =0.75, b = 1.01 , A = 0.3 (c); 1 =1.75, 2 =1.75, b = 1.01 , A = 0.4 (d). The other parameters are 1 = 0.1 , 2 = 1.0
The results of the computer simulations show that the instability domain and the system dynamics significantly depend on the ratio between the orders of the fractional derivatives. Thus some new complex nonlinear dynamics phenomena that cannot be found in dynamical systems of the integer order can be identified for the fractional van der Pol-FitzHughNagumo model (see the Figs. 1, 2 for the evolution of the instability domains and typical oscillations, as well as the twodimensional phase portraits for different governing parameters and orders of the fractional derivatives).

References
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Agrawal, O., Machado, J. Tenreiro, Sabatier, J. (2007) Advances in Fractional Calculus: Theory and Applications in Physics and Engineering, Springer, Dordrecht. Gafiychuk, V., Datsko, B. (2008) Spatiotemporal pattern formation in fractional reaction-diffusion systems. Phys. Rev. E 77:066210-1-9. Gafiychuk, V., Datsko, B., Meleshko, V. (2008) Math. modeling of time fractional react.-diffus. Systems. J. Comp. Appl. Math. 372 :215-225. Landa, P. (1996) Nonlinear oscillations and waves in dynamical systems. Kluwer, Dordrecht. Luchko, Yu., Rivero, M., Trujillo, J., Velasco M. (2010) Fractional models, non-locality and complex systems. Comp. Math. with Appl. 59:1048-1056.