Phase reduction approach to elastohydrodynamic synchronization of beating flagella

Synchronization phenomenon of temperature oscillation in rotating fluid annulus and optimal waveforms of external forcing

The synchronization phenomena observed in traveling and oscillating thermal convection within a rotating fluid annulus are investigated using three-dimensional direct numerical simulations. The numerical simulations using the direct method calculate the phase-sensitivity and phase-coupling functions, thereby revealing that the waveforms followed sinusoidal patterns. This finding indicates that a similar synchronization state is achieved from any initial condition, as there are only one local maximum and minimum value. The theoretical synchronization criteria provide accurate predictions of the synchronization region. Furthermore, an individual comparing the period difference between the forcing oscillation period τf and the effective oscillation period τe of the system is found to be insufficient to determine the synchronization state. An accurate assessment requires considering the mean values and magnitude of the standard deviation in the oscillation period of the system. Three optimal waveforms-each optimized with respect to the entrainment range, the entrainment speed, and the duty cycle-are calculated. The waveforms obtained within the entrainment range and the entrainment speed also approximately exhibit a sinusoidal pattern owing to roughly a sinusoidal phase-sensitivity function of the system. Consequently, the synchronization region for both methods exhibits minimal extension. However, the maximum entrainment range is theoretically obtained for an optimal duty cycle of 50%, thereby resulting in an entrainment range that is 12% larger than that for a 100% duty cycle. Numerical experiments confirm that the optimal waveform enlarges the synchronization region.

Setting of the Poincaré section for accurately calculating the phase of rhythmic spatiotemporal dynamics

Synchronization analysis of real-world systems is essential across numerous fields, including physics, chemistry, and life sciences. Generally, the governing equations of these systems are unknown, and thus, the phase is calculated from measurements. Although existing phase calculation techniques are designed for oscillators that possess no spatial structure, methods for handling spatiotemporal dynamics remain undeveloped. The presence of spatial structure complicates the determination of which measurements should be used for accurate phase calculation. To address this, we explore a method for calculating the phase from measurements taken at a single spatial grid point. The phase is calculated to increase linearly between event times when the measurement time series intersects the Poincaré section. The difference between the calculated phase and the isochron-based phase, resulting from the discrepancy between the isochron and the Poincaré section, is evaluated using a linear approximation near the limit-cycle solution. We found that the difference is small when measurements are taken from regions that dominate the rhythms of the entire spatiotemporal dynamics. Furthermore, we investigate an alternative method where the Poincaré section is applied to time series obtained through orthogonal decomposition of the entire spatiotemporal dynamics. We present two decomposition schemes that utilize principal component analysis. For illustration, the phase is calculated from the measurements of spatiotemporal dynamics exhibiting target waves or oscillating spots, simulated by weakly coupled FitzHugh-Nagumo reaction-diffusion models.

The reaction-diffusion basis of animated patterns in eukaryotic flagella

The flagellar beat of bull spermatozoa and C. Reinhardtii are modelled by a minimal, geometrically exact, reaction-diffusion system. Spatio-temporal animated patterns describe flagellar waves, analogous to chemical-patterns from classical reaction-diffusion systems, with sliding-controlled molecular motor reaction-kinetics. The reaction-diffusion system is derived from first principles as a consequence of the high-internal dissipation by the flagellum relative to the external hydrodynamic dissipation. Quantitative comparison with nonlinear, large-amplitude simulations shows that animated reaction-diffusion patterns account for the experimental beating of both bull sperm and C. Reinhardtii. Our results suggest that a unified mechanism may exist for motors controlled by sliding, without requiring curvature-sensing, and uninfluenced by hydrodynamics. High-internal dissipation instigates autonomous travelling waves independently of the external fluid, enabling progressive swimming, otherwise not possible, in low viscosity environments, potentially critical for external fertilizers and aquatic microorganisms. The reaction-diffusion system may prove a powerful tool for studying pattern formation of movement on animated structures.

Two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulation for synchronization in coupled density oscillators

A density oscillator is a fluid system in which oscillatory flow occurs between different density fluids through the pore connecting them. We investigate the synchronization in coupled density oscillators using two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulation and analyze the stability of the synchronous state based on the phase reduction theory. Our results show that the antiphase, three-phase, and 2-2 partial-in-phase synchronization modes spontaneously appear as stable states in two, three, and four coupled oscillators, respectively. The phase dynamics of coupled density oscillators is interpreted with their sufficiently large first Fourier components of the phase coupling function.

Phase reduction technique on a target region

We propose a phase reduction technique that provides the phase sensitivity function, which is one of the essential functions in phase reduction theory, on a target region. A system with a large degree of freedom and global coupling, such as an incompressible fluid system, is emphasized. Such a system poses challenges for the numerical calculation of the phase sensitivity function, which cannot be resolved using known algorithms such as the direct method or the adjoint method. A combination of the Jacobian-free algorithm and the Rayleigh-Ritz procedure is proposed to significantly reduce the computational cost and obtain a good approximation of the phase sensitivity function in a particular region of interest. In addition, the approximation can be assessed using the Ritz value. The breathing solution of a reaction-diffusion system and the flow past a flat plate are used to analyze the proposed methods, and the characteristics of the proposed method are discussed.

Multisynchrony in Active Microfilaments

Biological microfilaments exhibit a variety of synchronization modes. Recent experiments observed that a pair of isolated eukaryotic flagella, coupled solely via the fluid medium, display synchrony at nontrivial phase lags in addition to in-phase and antiphase synchrony. Using an elastohydrodynamic filament model in conjunction with numerical simulations and a Floquet-type theoretical analysis, we demonstrate that it is possible to reach multiple synchronization states by varying the intrinsic activity of the filament and the strength of hydrodynamic coupling between the two filaments. Then, we derive an evolution equation for the phase difference between the two filaments at weak coupling, and use a Kuramoto-style phase sensitivity analysis to reveal the nature of the bifurcations underlying the transitions between these different synchronized states.

On the energetics and stability of a minimal fish school

The physical basis for fish schooling is examined using three-dimensional numerical simulations of a pair of swimming fish, with kinematics and geometry obtained from experimental data. Energy expenditure and efficiency are evaluated using a cost of transport function, while the effect of schooling on the stability of each swimmer is examined by probing the lateral force and the lateral and longitudinal force fluctuations. We construct full maps of the aforementioned quantities as functions of the spatial pattern of the swimming fish pair and show that both energy expenditure and stability can be invoked as possible reasons for the swimming patterns and tail-beat synchronization observed in real fish. Our results suggest that high cost of transport zones should be avoided by the fish. Wake capture may be energetically unfavorable in the absence of kinematic adjustment. We hereby hypothesize that fish may restrain from wake capturing and, instead, adopt side-to-side configuration as a conservative strategy, when the conditions of wake energy harvesting are not satisfied. To maintain a stable school configuration, compromise between propulsive efficiency and stability, as well as between school members, ought to be considered.

Jacobian-free algorithm to calculate the phase sensitivity function in the phase reduction theory and its applications to Kármán's vortex street

Phase reduction theory has been applied to many systems with limit cycles; however, it has limited applications in incompressible fluid systems. This is because the calculation of the phase sensitivity function, one of the fundamental functions in phase reduction theory, has a high computational cost for systems with a large degree of freedom. Furthermore, incompressible fluid systems have an implicit expression of the Jacobian. To address these issues, we propose a new algorithm to numerically calculate the phase sensitivity function. This algorithm does not require the explicit form of the Jacobian along the limit cycle, and the computational time is significantly reduced, compared with known methods. Along with the description of the method and characteristics, two applications of the method are demonstrated. One application is the traveling pulse in the FitzHugh Nagumo equation in a periodic domain and the other is the Kármán's vortex street. The response to the perturbation added to the Kármán's vortex street is discussed in terms of both phase reduction theory and fluid mechanics.

Effect of interfilament hydrodynamic interaction on swimming performance of two-filament microswimmers

The motion of two-filament artificial swimmers is modeled by assuming interfilament coupling via hydrodynamic viscous drag. The filaments are assumed to be in parallel and attached to a rigid spherical head. The boundary actuation is assumed to occur at the head-filament joint through an external oscillatory magnetic field and the filament motion is taken to be confined to the flexural plane. The hydrodynamic coupling modifies the viscous drag on one filament due to motion of the other. Assuming in-phase, small amplitude, low frequency actuation the swimmer performance metrics (propulsive thrust, propulsion speed and energy efficiency) are calculated using Lauga's formulation for the swimmer kinematics coupled with filament dynamics. The results are compared with the performance of a single-filament and an uncoupled two-filament swimmer. The hydrodynamic coupling is found to enhance the performance measures in a parametric window. Also, it is found that there occurs an optimum combination of head size and swimmer length that can maximize the microswimmer performance. The findings are in agreement with the experimental observations on multi-filament artificial microswimming.