This study will examine the behavior that arises from the interactions of oscillating systems with fundamentally different underlying physical principles. The oscillators have different natural rates and wave shapes. The work asks how collective behavior is sensitive to changes in the oscillators and the communications between oscillators. The study of coupled nonlinear oscillators can lead to a deep understanding of biological systems. Physically dissimilar biological oscillators are of particular interest. Other biological oscillators exhibit complex waveforms, such as the spiking of neurons. Despite the prevalence of dissimilar interacting biological systems, there have been few related experiments. Most studies examine homogeneous oscillators within one system type. Students will be trained in understanding, modeling, simulating, and experimentally investigating coupled physically dissimilar systems.
This project will perform experiments that couple dissimilar physical oscillator systems. Through these experiments, strengths and weaknesses of reduced-variable models will be revealed that may not be apparent in systems of similar oscillators. Reduced-variable models are important to the analysis of biological oscillators, thus, insights into the models are important. The systems to be studied have different oscillatory dynamics with analogous biological modes; like the heart, an opto-mechanical oscillator can exhibit multiple spatial modes of oscillation while the lungs and an opto-electronic oscillator cannot. Unlike biological oscillators, there are accurate mathematical models for these dissimilar oscillators. Thus, this work will create a flexible experimental proxy for interactions between dissimilar biological systems, while providing an opportunity for theoretical advancements in the study of synchronization, delayed coupling, and interacting oscillators with different physical properties.
