Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2011
Abstract
We study a class of ordinary differential equations extending the Hodgkin-Huxley equations for the nerve impulse under a travelling wave condition. We obtain a geometrical description of the subset in parameter space were the equilibria lose stability. This may happen in two ways: first, the linearisation around the equilibrium may have a pair of purely imaginary eigenvalues with multiplicity j. This happens for parameters in the set Nj, the possible sites for Hopf bifurcation, where a branch of periodic solutions is created. Second, a real eigenvalue may change sign at the site for a possible saddle-node bifurcation. This happens at parameter values in the sets Kl where there is a zero eigenvalue of multiplicity l. We show that the sets Nj and Kl are singular ruled submanifolds of the parameter space RM+3 with rulings contained in codimension 1 affine subspaces. The subset of regular points in Nj has codimension 2j - 1 in RM+3 and its rulings have codimension 2j + 1. The subset of regular points in Kl has codimension l in RM+3 with rulings of codimension l + 1. We illustrate the result with a numerical plot of the surface N2 for the Hodgkin-Huxley equations simplified to have M = 2.
Introduction – equations of Hodgkin-Huxley type
The Hodgkin-Huxley model [2] describes the variation of the difference x ∈ R of the electrical potential across a nerve cell membrane, as a function of the distance s ∈ R along an axon and of the time t ∈ R, for an electrical stimulus of intensity I ∈ R.
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