A numerical investigation of the dynamics of a system of two time-delay coupled relaxation oscillators (Q1423939)

The authors consider two coupled van der Pol oscillators \[ \varepsilon \ddot x_1 - (1-x_1^2) \dot x_1 + x_1 = \alpha [ x_2(t-\tau) -x_1(t-\tau)], \] \[ \varepsilon \ddot x_2 - (1-x_2^2)\dot x_2 + x_1 = \alpha [ x_1(t-\tau) -x_2(t-\tau)]. \] This system admits different types of relaxation oscillations because of the small parameter \(\varepsilon\). The symmetry of the coupling induces that phase-locked motions exist including in-phase motions with \(x(t)=y(t)\) and out-of-phase motions with \(x(t)=-y(t)\). The authors study numerically existence and stability of such phase-locked solutions. In particular, they identify regions in the \((\tau,\alpha)\)-parameter plane, which correspond to the existence of stable phase-locked solutions. They also indicate parameters, for which in-phase and out-of-phase stable cycles coexist.