Positive circuits and maximal number of fixed points in discrete dynamical systems (Q967384)

Let \(F:X \rightarrow X\) be a map where \(X\) is a product of \(n\) finite intervals of integers. R. Thomas introduced the asynchronous state transition graph \(\varGamma (F)\) on \(X\) to model the dynamics of a network of \(n\) genes [see \textit{R. Thomas}, ``Boolean formalization of genetic control circuits'', J. Theor. Biology 42, 563--585 (1973); \textit{R. Thomas} and \textit{R. D'Ari}, Biological feedback, Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press (1990; Zbl 0743.92003)]. In the paper reviewed here, the author finds an upper bound for the number of fixed points of \(F\) and the number of attractors in \(\varGamma (F)\) dependent only on \(X\) and the interaction graph. This result generalizes results of \textit{A. Richard} and \textit{J.-P. Comet} [``Necessary conditions for multistationarity in discrete dynamical systems'', Discrete Appl. Math. 155, No. 18, 2403--2413 (2007; Zbl 1125.37062)] and \textit{J. Aracena, J. Demongeot}, and \textit{E. Goles} [``Positive and negative circuits in discrete neural networks'', IEEE Trans. Neural Networks 15, 77--83 (2004)].