Firing patterns and bifurcation analysis of Purkinje cell dendrite model

This paper mainly studied firing patterns and related bifurcations in the Purkinje cell dendrite model. Based on the methods of equivalent potentials and time scale analysis, the initial six-dimensional (6D) dendrite model is reduced to a 3D form to facilitate the calculation. We numerically show that the dendrite model could exhibit period-adding bifurcation and four bursting patterns for several vital parameters. Then the bifurcation mechanisms and transition of these four bursting patterns are discussed by phase plane analysis, and two-parameter bifurcation analysis of the fast subsystem, respectively. Moreover, we computed the first Lyapunov coefficient to determine the stability of Hopf bifurcation. Ultimately, we analyzed the codimension-two bifurcation of the whole system and gave a detailed theoretical derivation of the Bogdanov–Takens bifurcation.

A Simplified Scaling Law of Cell-Dendrite Transition in Directional Solidification

To describe the cell-dendrite transition (CDT) during directional solidification, a new simplified scaling law is proposed and verified by quantitative phase field simulations. This scaling law bears clear physical foundation with consideration of the overall effects of primary spacing, pulling velocity, and thermal gradient on the onset of sidebranches. The analysis results show that the exponent parameters in this simplified scaling law vary within different systems, which mediates the discrepancy of exponent parameters in previous experiments. The scaling law also presents an explanation for the destabilizing mechanism of thermal gradient in sidebranching dynamics.