title: High-order synchronization of hair cell bundles.
abstract: Auditory and vestibular hair cell bundles exhibit active mechanical oscillations at natural frequencies that are typically lower than the detection range of the corresponding end organs. We explore how these noisy nonlinear oscillators mode-lock to frequencies higher than their internal clocks. A nanomagnetic technique is used to stimulate the bundles without an imposed mechanical load. The evoked response shows regimes of high-order mode-locking. Exploring a broad range of stimulus frequencies and intensities, we observe regions of high-order synchronization, analogous to Arnold Tongues in dynamical systems literature. Significant areas of overlap occur between synchronization regimes, with the bundle intermittently flickering between different winding numbers. We demonstrate how an ensemble of these noisy spontaneous oscillators could be entrained to efficiently detect signals significantly above the characteristic frequencies of the individual cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, United States.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, United States.
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Molzon
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanomedicine, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea.|Yonsei-IBS Institute, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea.|Department of Chemistry, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jae-Hyun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanomedicine, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea.|Yonsei-IBS Institute, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea.|Department of Chemistry, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Ji-Wook
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanomedicine, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea.|Yonsei-IBS Institute, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea.|Department of Chemistry, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jinwoo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cheon
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, United States.
authors.forename: Dolores
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bozovic
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006198:Hair Cells, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D018069:Hair Cells, Vestibular / Q000502:physiology*; D060328:Magnetic Phenomena; D040542:Mechanotransduction, Cellular; D036103:Nanotechnology; D011892:Rana catesbeiana / Q000502:physiology*