title: Chaotic bursting as chaotic itinerancy in coupled neural oscillators.
abstract: We show that chaotic bursting activity observed in coupled neural oscillators is a kind of chaotic itinerancy. In neuronal systems with phase deformation along the trajectory, diffusive coupling induces a dephasing effect. Because of this effect, an antiphase synchronized solution is stable for weak coupling, while an in-phase solution is stable for very strong coupling. For intermediate coupling, a chaotic bursting activity is generated. It is a mixture of three different states: an antiphase firing state, an in-phase firing state, and a nonfiring resting state. As we construct numerically the deformed torus manifold underlying the chaotic bursting state, it is shown that the three unstable states are connected to give rise to a global chaotic itinerancy structure. Thus we claim that chaotic itinerancy provides an alternative route to chaos via torus breakdown.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and BSRC, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Chungbuk 361-763, Korea.
authors.forename: Seung Kee
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Postnov
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009420:Nervous System; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D009991:Oscillometry; D013997:Time Factors