Spatiotemporal patterns in a 2D lattice of Hindmarsh–Rose neurons induced by high-amplitude pulses

Abstract

We present numerical results for the effects of influence by high-amplitude periodic pulse series on a network of nonlocally coupled Hindmarsh–Rose neurons with 2D geometry of the topology. We consider the case when the pulse amplitude is larger than the amplitude of oscillations in the autonomous network for a wide range of pulse frequencies. An initial regime in the network is a spiral wave chimera. We show that the effects of external influence strongly depend on a balance between the pulse frequency and frequencies of the spectral peaks of the autonomous network. Except for the destructive role of the pulses, when they lead to loss of stability of the initial regime, we have also revealed a constructive role. We have found for the first time the emergence of a new type of multi-front spiral waves, when the wavefront represents a set of several close fronts, and the wave dynamics are significantly different from common spiral waves: neurons oscillate independently to the wave rotation, the rotation velocity is in many times less than for the common spiral wave, etc. We have also discovered several types of cluster spatiotemporal structures induced by the pulses.