Biomedical subjects

Raúl Toral

Publications and source records attributed to Raúl Toral.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Diversity-induced resonance.

We present conclusive evidence showing that different sources of diversity, such as those represented by quenched disorder or noise, can induce a resonant collective behavior in an ensemble of coupled bistable or excitable systems. Our analytical and numerical results show that when such systems are subjected to an external subthreshold signal, their response is optimized for an intermediate value of the diversity. These findings show that intrinsic diversity might have a constructive role and suggest that natural systems might profit from their diversity in order to optimize the response to an external stimulus.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2004

Dynamical mechanism of anticipating synchronization in excitable systems.

We analyze the phenomenon of anticipating synchronization of two excitable systems with unidirectional delayed coupling which are subject to the same external forcing. We demonstrate for different paradigms of excitable system that, due to the coupling, the excitability threshold for the slave system is always lower than that for the master. As a consequence the two systems respond to a common external forcing with different response times. This allows us to explain in a simple way the mechanism behind the phenomenon of anticipating synchronization in excitable systems.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2004

Derivation of amplitude equations for nonlinear oscillators subject to arbitrary forcing.

By using a generalization of the multiple scales technique we develop a method to derive amplitude equations for zero-dimensional forced systems. The method allows to consider either additive or multiplicative forcing terms and can be straightforwardly applied to the case that the forcing is white noise. We give examples of the use of this method to the case of the van der Pol-Duffing oscillator. The writing of the amplitude equations in terms of a Lyapunov potential allow us to obtain an analytical expression for the probability distribution function which reproduces reasonably well the numerical simulation results.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2004

Anticipated synchronization: a metaphorical linear view.

We study the regime of anticipated synchronization recently described on a number of dynamical systems including chaotic ones. We use simple linear caricatures to show the minimal setups able to reproduce the basic facts described.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

PubMed2003

Apparent phase transitions in finite one-dimensional sine-Gordon lattices.

We study the one-dimensional sine-Gordon model as a prototype of roughening phenomena. In spite of the fact that it has been recently proven that this model cannot have any phase transition [J. A. Cuesta and A. Sánchez, J. Phys. A 35, 2373 (2002)], Langevin as well as Monte Carlo simulations strongly suggest the existence of a finite temperature separating a flat from a rough phase. We explain this result by means of the transfer operator formalism and show as a consequence that sine-Gordon lattices of any practically achievable size will exhibit this apparent phase transition at unexpectedly large temperatures.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2003

Global culture: a noise-induced transition in finite systems.

We analyze the effect of cultural drift, modeled as noise, in Axelrod's model for the dissemination of culture. The disordered multicultural frozen configurations are found not to be stable. This general result is proven rigorously in d=1, where the dynamics is described in terms of a Lyapunov potential. In d=2, the dynamics is governed by the average relaxation time T of perturbations. Noise at a rate r or =T(-1) sustains disorder. In the thermodynamic limit, the relaxation time diverges and global polarization persists in spite of a dynamics of local convergence.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2003

Nonequilibrium transitions in complex networks: a model of social interaction.

We analyze the nonequilibrium order-disorder transition of Axelrod's model of social interaction in several complex networks. In a small-world network, we find a transition between an ordered homogeneous state and a disordered state. The transition point is shifted by the degree of spatial disorder of the underlying network, the network disorder favoring ordered configurations. In random scale-free networks the transition is only observed for finite size systems, showing system size scaling, while in the thermodynamic limit only ordered configurations are always obtained. Thus, in the thermodynamic limit the transition disappears. However, in structured scale-free networks, the phase transition between an ordered and a disordered phase is restored.

Journal Article↗