Synchronization of "Hopf/homoclinic" bursting with "SubHopf/homoclinic" bursting

Abstract

Taking the modified Morris-Lecar neuron model for example, we consider the synchronous behaviour between "Hopf/homoclinic" bursting and "SubHopf/homoclinic" bursting. Firstly, the synchronization between two coupled bursting neurons with the same topological type is investigated numerically, and the results show that the coupling strength reaching the synchronization of the membrane potential of "Hopf/homoclinic" bursting is smaller than that of "SubHopf/homoclinic" bursting, that is to say, the former can reach complete synchrony of the membrane potential more easily than the latter. Secondly, we study the synchronous behavior of two coupled bursting neurons with different topological types by numerical analysis, and find that with the increase of the coupling strength the two different types of bursting neurons reach the bursting-synchrony first, and then they can reach complete synchrony of the membrane potential when the coupling strength is strong enough, and the type of synchronous state is inclined to the type of easy synchronization, namely, "Hopf/homoclinic" bursting. To our surprise, the slow variables exhibit phase synchronization instead of complete synchronization. Moreover, there is a linear relationship between the both slow variables. This point is distinctly different from the results of the existing documents.