Periodic traveling-wave-type solutions in circular chains of unidirectionally coupled equations (Q2449472)

The authors consider the cyclic system \[ \dot u_j=-\mu u_j+\lambda[1-(a+ 1) f(u_{j-1})],\quad j= 1,\dots, m,\;u_0(t)= u_m(t),\tag{\(*\)} \] where \(\mu\) and \(a\) are positive constants, \(\lambda\) is a positive parameter. The function \(f\) belongs to \(C^\infty(\mathbb{R})\) and is defined by asymptotic relations as \(u\to\pm\infty\); typical representatives are \[ f(u)= {\arctan u+\pi/2\over\pi},\;f(u)= {1+{u\over\sqrt{u^2+1}}\over 2},\;f(u)={1\over 1+e^{-u}}. \] They look for periodic solutions of \((*)\) satisfying \[ u_j(t)= u_j(t+(j- 1)\Delta),\quad j=1,\dots, m, \] where \(\Delta>0\) is a phase shift. It is obvious that the periodic solution \(u(t)\) satisfies the functional-differential equation \[ \dot u=-\mu u+\lambda[1-(a+ 1) f(u(t-\Delta))]. \] The authors prove that to given \(\Delta\) and for sufficiently large \(\lambda\) system \((*)\) has an exponentially orbitally stable relaxation cycle \(u_*(t,\Delta,\lambda)\) with period \(T(\Delta,\lambda)\). Furthermore, they study the asymptotic behavior of \(u_*(t,\Delta,\lambda)\) and \(T(\Delta,\lambda)\) in \(\lambda\).