Mathematical Sciences: Mutual Synchronization of Biological Oscillators

斯特罗加茨9627189许多种群的生物振荡器可以表现出非凡的集体行为。尽管它们各自的自然频率不同，但振荡器自发地同步到一个共同的频率。例如，蟋蟀齐声鸣叫，萤火虫齐声闪烁，心脏起搏器细胞同步放电。这位研究人员和他的同事使用分析、计算和实验方法研究了这些自同步系统背后的原理。数学研究涉及相互同步的动力学和稳定性，运用微扰理论、非线性动力学和统计力学的方法进行分析。该项目的实验方面涉及雪树蟋蟀的合唱行为，该系统被视为研究相互同步的模型实验系统。这些实验量化了个体男性反应与合唱有关的心理物理方面，然后扩展到更大群体的行为，基于听觉感知、生理和信号传播的经验测量。我们的目标是了解这个生物系统中的相互同步，并根据数学模型的预测对结果进行定量测试。这项研究首次对生物系统中的相互同步进行了详细的实验研究。虽然蟋蟀的同步鸣叫是正在研究的现象，但该项目的目标要宽泛得多。如何在一组不同的振荡器中出现同步？这个问题贯穿于所有的科学和技术领域，出现在这样的问题中：激光阵列的同步以获得更大的集体功率，或者心脏起搏器细胞的同步以产生连贯的心跳。这种自同步系统的理论在数学上已经被考虑了近30年，但它们从未被用任何真实的生物系统进行实验检验。这项研究是朝着这个方向迈出的第一步。这不仅有利于我们对生物同步的理解，还有助于将其衍生为一系列振荡器的技术应用，例如超导约瑟夫森结和激光器。

Strogatz 9627189 Many populations of biological oscillators can exhibit remarkable collective behavior. Despite differences in their individual natural frequencies, the oscillators spontaneously synchronize to a common frequency. Examples include chorusing crickets, fireflies that flash in unison, and synchronous firing of cardiac pacemaker cells. The investigator and his colleagues study the principles underlying these self-synchronizing systems, using analytical, computational, and experimental methods. The mathematical investigations concern the dynamics and stability of mutual synchronization, analyzed with techniques from perturbation theory, nonlinear dynamics, and statistical mechanics. The experimental aspects of the project deal with the chorusing behavior of the snowy tree cricket, regarded as a model experimental system for studying mutual synchronization. The experiments quantify psychophysical aspects of individual male responses as they relate to chorusing, and then extend to the behavior of larger groups, based on empirical measures of auditory perception, physiology, and signal propagation. The goal is to understand mutual synchronization in this biological system, and to test the results quantitatively against the predictions of mathematical models. This study provides the first detailed experimental investigation of mutual synchronization in a biological system. Although the synchronized chirping of crickets is the phenomenon being studied, the goals of the project are much broader. How does synchrony emerge in a group of dissimilar oscillators? This issue arises throughout all of science and technology, in such problems as the synchronization of arrays of lasers to achieve greater collective power, or the synchronization of pacemaker cells in the heart to produce a coherent beat. Theories of such self-synchronizing systems have been considered mathematically for almost thirty years, but they have never been checked experime ntally against any real biological system. This study is the first step in that direction. Benefits are expected not only for our understanding of biological synchronization, but also for spin-offs to technological applications involving arrays of oscillators, such as superconducting Josephson junctions and lasers.