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Master equation simulations of bistable and excitable dynamics in a model of a thermochemical system
Bogdan Nowakowski1, Andrzej L Kawczyński
1Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kasprzaka 44/52, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland.
Abstract:
The effect of fluctuations on the dynamics of a model of a bistable thermochemical system is studied by means of the master equation. The system has three stationary states and exhibits two types of bistability: the coexistence of two stable focuses and the coexistence of a stable focus with a stable limit cycle separated by a saddle point. Stochastic effects are important when the system is close to the bifurcation, in which the stable limit cycle disappears through a homoclinic orbit. In this case the distribution of the first passage time from the stable limit cycle to the stable focus has a multipeak form. The dependence of this distribution on the number of particles is presented. Near the homoclinic orbit bifurcation, the system also exhibits excitability due to a particular shape of the basin of attraction of the stable focus.
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