The dynamics of a forced coupled network of active elements (Q633719)

The authors propose to explain the appearance of phosphenes in the retina by wave-phenomena on lattices of nearest-neighbor-coupled, periodically forced oscillators. Due to the forcing having double frequency of the natural oscillations, there is an inherent bistability in each oscillator corresponding to a 1:2-locking to the stimulus. Phase-equations for this system are derived and the stability and bifurcations of split states are investigated. These are states, in which the population is located in two antiphase clusters. When loosing stability, these states tend to dissolve in so-called ``recruitment waves'' and eventually the whole system synchronizes. By passing to the continuity limit the authors generate a diffusion-reaction-like equation. The analysis of its traveling-wave-solutions gives an estimation for the wave-speed in terms of the system's parameters.