Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 222, 2417-2428 (2013)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2013-02026-7

Regular Article

Sequential activity and multistability in an ensemble of coupled Van der Pol oscillators

Department of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics, Nizhny Novgorod State University, 23, Gagarin Avenue, 603950 Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

^a e-mail: levanova.tatiana@gmail.com

Received: 16 July 2013
Revised: 13 August 2013
Published online: 28 October 2013

Abstract

In this paper collective dynamics of an ensemble of inhibitory coupled Van der Pol oscillators are studied. It was found that a stable heteroclinic contour and a stable heteroclinic channel between saddle cycles exist. These heteroclinic structures are responsible for the sequential activity of different oscillations. The corresponding bifurcations leading to the appearance of heteroclinic trajectories are analyzed.