New type of excitatory pulse coupling of chemical oscillators via inhibitor

Abstract

We introduce a new type of pulse coupling between chemical oscillators. A constant inflow of inhibitor in one reactor is interrupted shortly after a time delay after a sharp spike of activity in the other reactor. We proved experimentally and theoretically that this reversed inhibitory coupling is analogous to excitatory coupling. We did this by analyzing phase response curves, dependences of different synchronous regimes of the 1 : 1 resonance on time delay, and other resonances of two coupled chemical oscillators. Dynamical rhythms of two Belousov–Zhabotinsky oscillators coupled via “negative” inhibitory pulses were investigated.