An elementary model of torus canards

We study the recently observed phenomena of torus canards. These are a higher-dimensional generalization of the classical canard orbits familiar from planar systems and arise in fast-slow systems of ordinary differential equations in which the fast subsystem contains a saddle-node bifurcation of limit cycles. Torus canards are trajectories that pass near the saddle-node and subsequently spend long times near a repelling branch of slowly varying limit cycles. In this article, we carry out a study of torus canards in an elementary third-order system that consists of a rotated planar system of van der Pol type in which the rotational symmetry is broken by including a phase-dependent term in the slow component of the vector field. In the regime of fast rotation, the torus canards behave much like their planar counterparts. In the regime of slow rotation, the phase dependence creates rich torus canard dynamics and dynamics of mixed mode type. The results of this elementary model provide insight into the torus canards observed in a higher-dimensional neuroscience model.