arXiv subjects

Martin Wechselberger

Publications and source records attributed to Martin Wechselberger.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Geometric singular perturbation analysis of the active metabolic oscillator in pancreatic \b{eta}-cells

Pancreatic \b{eta}-cells secrete insulin in response to blood sugar levels to maintain glucose homeostasis. This vital insulin exocytosis is controlled by the cell's bursting behaviours, which are regulated by tight bidirectional coupling of inherent electrical and metabolic oscillators. The Integrated Oscillator Model suggests that slower metabolic oscillations are mediated either by glycolytic oscillations-through an independent active metabolic oscillator (AMO)-or by Ca2+ effects on ATP consumption via a passive metabolic oscillator (PMO). By clamping the Ca2+ and ATP dynamics, our study focuses on the decoupled AMO which is the driver of pulsatile dynamics. Using appropriate reference scales, we first non-dimensionalise the model to identify small parameters and processes evolving on different timescales. We show that the AMO can be recast as a surrogate relaxation oscillator, a more general class of multiple timescale problems involving oscillation cycles comprising fast and slow segments, which are amenable to rigorous analysis using the machinery of geometric singular perturbation theory. Using the parametrisation method to identify invariant manifolds and blow-up analysis to desingularise degenerate vector fields, we fully characterise the hierarchy of timescales and the complex singular geometry constituting the metabolic oscillations. Our work considerably extends the `fast-slow' analysis of glycolytic oscillators and is a stepping stone towards understanding how the slower metabolic system temporally patterns the faster electrical bursting dynamics.

math.DS↗

arXiv2025

A coordinate-independent Pontryagin-Rodygin theorem for slow-fast averaging

The slow drift along a manifold of periodic orbits is a key mathematical structure underlying bursting dynamics in many scientific applications. While classical averaging theory, as formalised by the Pontryagin-Rodygin theorem, provides a leading-order approximation for this slow drift, the connection to the underlying geometry described by Geometric Singular Perturbation Theory (GSPT)--also known as Fenichel theory--is often not explicit, particularly at higher orders. This paper makes that connection rigorous and constructive using the parametrisation method. We provide a detailed, self-contained exposition of this functional analytic technique, showing how it synthesizes the geometric insight of invariant manifold theory with a systematic, perturbative algorithm. By treating the manifold's embedding and the reduced flow as coupled unknowns, the method provides a constructive proof of an averaged system that is guaranteed to be geometrically consistent with the persistence of the normally hyperbolic manifold to any order. We translate the abstract theory into a concrete computational procedure using Floquet theory, spectral analysis, and the Fredholm alternative, yielding a practical guide for computing high-accuracy, higher-order averaged models, and we demonstrate its implementation, both analytically and numerically, through specific examples.

math.DS↗

arXiv2025

Coordinate-independent model reductions of chemical reaction networks based on geometric singular perturbation theory

The quasi-steady-state approximation (QSSA) is a standard technique for reducing the complexity of chemical reaction networks (CRNs). The validity of any QSSA-based model is restricted to specific parameter regimes. Selecting the appropriate reduction is not always straightforward. At times, QSSAs are misused outside of their validity regions and, even when a particular QSSA is considered valid in a given parameter regime, other QSSAs may be simultaneously valid, creating ambiguity. Here, we employ a more powerful alternative: a constructive model reduction framework based on coordinate-independent geometric singular perturbation theory (ci-GSPT) and the parametrization method. A key advantage of this approach is its ability to derive reduced models independent of a clear timescale separation in the variables for a specific parameter configuration. We demonstrate our approach on two benchmark systems. For the Michaelis-Menten (MM) reaction, we show that the framework provides a systematic approach by exploring parameter configurations across three orders of magnitude: asymptotically large, small, and `order one'. A consequence of this systematic analysis is a geometric classification that categorizes the resulting model reductions and provides a point of comparison between our approach and common QSSA variants in the literature. For the more complex Kim-Forger model, we show that this approach successfully produces a reduction without the need for a coordinate transformation, showcasing its applicability to larger systems.

math.DS↗

arXiv2024

Shock selection in reaction--diffusion equations with partially negative diffusivity using nonlinear regularisation

We consider a general reaction--nonlinear-diffusion equation with a region of negative diffusivity, and show how a nonlinear regularisation selects a shock position. Negative diffusivity can model population aggregation, but leads to shock-fronted solutions for population density. In general the shock position is non-unique. Previous studies have defined shock selection criteria such as the equal area rule, and shown how these arise from specific regularisations to the reaction--diffusion equation. In this work, we show that a nonlinear regularisation leads to travelling wave solutions where the shock is selected according to a modified equal area rule. Adjusting the nonlinearity in the regularisation moves the shock location. We focus on attaining shocks that conserve diffusivity across the shock, and demonstrate that this condition yields the longest possible shock length. Using geometric singular perturbation theory, we prove the existence of shock-fronted travelling wave solutions with continuous diffusivity, show how to construct them, and demonstrate that they correspond to a unique wave speed. Numerical solutions align with theoretical predictions for shock position and wave speed, confirming that a single regularisation term can vary the shock position and attain shocks with continuous diffusivity.

math.AP↗

arXiv2023

Analytic shock-fronted solutions to a reaction-diffusion equation with negative diffusivity

Reaction-diffusion equations (RDEs) model the spatiotemporal evolution of a density field $u(\vec{x},t)$ according to diffusion and net local changes. Usually, the diffusivity is positive for all values of $u,$ which causes the density to disperse. However, RDEs with partially negative diffusivity can model aggregation, which is the preferred behaviour in some circumstances. In this paper, we consider a nonlinear RDE with quadratic diffusivity $D(u) = (u - a)(u - b)$ that is negative for $u\in(a,b)$. We use a nonclassical symmetry to construct analytic receding time-dependent, colliding wave, and receding travelling wave solutions. These solutions are multi-valued, and we convert them to single-valued solutions by inserting a shock. We examine properties of these analytic solutions including their Stefan-like boundary condition, and perform a phase plane analysis. We also investigate the spectral stability of the $u = 0$ and $u = 1$ constant solutions, and prove for certain $a$ and $b$ that receding travelling waves are spectrally stable. Additionally, we introduce a new shock condition where the diffusivity and flux are continuous across the shock. For diffusivity symmetric about the midpoint of its zeros, this condition recovers the well-known equal-area rule, but for non-symmetric diffusivity it results in a different shock position.

math.AP↗

arXiv2023

A geometric singular perturbation analysis of generalised shock selection rules in reaction-nonlinear diffusion models

Reaction-nonlinear diffusion (RND) partial differential equations are a fruitful playground to model the formation of sharp travelling fronts, a fundamental pattern in nature. In this work, we demonstrate the utility and scope of regularisation as a technique to investigate shock-fronted solutions of RND PDEs, using geometric singular perturbation theory (GSPT) as the mathematical framework. In particular, we show that composite regularisations can be used to construct families of monotone shock-fronted travelling waves sweeping out distinct generalised area rules, which interpolate between the equal area and extremal area (i.e. algebraic decay) rules that are well-known in the shockwave literature. We further demonstrate that our RND PDE supports other kinds of shock-fronted solutions, namely, nonmonotone shockwaves as well as shockwaves containing slow tails in the aggregation (negative diffusion) regime. Our analysis blends Melnikov methods -- in both smooth and piecewise-smooth settings -- with GSPT techniques applied to the PDE over distinct spatiotemporal scales. We also consider the spectral stability of these new interpolated shockwaves. Using techniques from geometric spectral stability theory, we determine that our RND PDE admits spectrally stable shock-fronted travelling waves. The multiple-scale nature of the regularised RND PDE continues to play an important role in the analysis of the spatial eigenvalue problem.

math.DS↗

arXiv2021

On the stability of isothermal shocks in black hole accretion disks

Most black holes possess accretion disks. Models of such disks inform observations and constrain the properties of the black holes and their surrounding medium. Here, we study isothermal shocks in a thin black hole accretion flow. Modelling infinitesimal molecular viscosity allows the use of multiple-scales matched asymptotic methods. We thus derive the first explicit calculations of isothermal shock stability. We find that the inner shock is always unstable, and the outer shock is always stable. The growth/decay rates of perturbations depend only on an effective potential and the incoming--outgoing flow difference at the shock location. We give a prescription of accretion regimes in terms of angular momentum and black hole radius. Accounting for angular momentum dissipation implies unstable outer shocks in much of parameter space, even for realistic viscous Reynolds numbers of the order $\approx 10^{20}$.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Process-Oriented Geometric Singular Perturbation Theory and Calcium Dynamics

Phenomena in chemistry, biology and neuroscience are often modelled using ordinary differential equations (ODEs) in which the right-hand-side is comprised of terms which correspond to individual 'processes' or 'fluxes'. Frequently, these ODEs are characterised by multiple time-scale phenomena due to order of magnitude differences between contributing processes and the presence of switching, i.e., dominance or sub-dominance of particular terms as a function of state variables. We outline a heuristic procedure for the identification of small parameters in ODE models of this kind, with a particular emphasis on the identification of small parameters relating to switching behaviours. This procedure is outlined informally in generality, and applied in detail to a model for intracellular calcium dynamics characterised by switching and multiple (more than two) time-scale dynamics. A total of five small parameters are identified, and related to a single perturbation parameter by a polynomial scaling law based on order of magnitude comparisons. The resulting singular perturbation problem has a time-scale separation which depends on the region of state space. We prove the existence and uniqueness of stable relaxation oscillations with three distinct time-scales using a coordinate-independent formulation of GSPT in combination with the blow-up method. We also provide an estimate for the period of the oscillations, and consider a number of possibilities for their onset under parameter variation.

math.DS↗

arXiv2021

Multiple timescales and the parametrisation method in geometric singular perturbation theory

We present a novel method for computing slow manifolds and their fast fibre bundles in geometric singular perturbation problems. This coordinate-independent method is inspired by the parametrisation method introduced by Cabré, Fontich and de la Llave. By iteratively solving a so-called conjugacy equation, our method simultaneously computes parametrisations of slow manifolds and fast fibre bundles, as well as the dynamics on these objects, to arbitrarily high degrees of accuracy. We show the power of this top-down method for the study of systems with multiple (i.e., three or more) timescales. In particular, we highlight the emergence of hidden timescales and show how our method can uncover these surprising multiple timescale structures. We also apply our parametrisation method to several reaction network problems.

math.DS↗

arXiv2021

Singularly Perturbed Boundary-Focus Bifurcations

We consider smooth systems limiting as $ε\to 0$ to piecewise-smooth (PWS) systems with a boundary-focus (BF) bifurcation. After deriving a suitable local normal form, we study the dynamics for the smooth system with $0 < ε\ll 1$ using a combination of geometric singular perturbation theory and blow-up. We show that the type of BF bifurcation in the PWS system determines the bifurcation structure for the smooth system within an $ε-$dependent domain which shrinks to zero as $ε\to 0$, identifying a supercritical Andronov-Hopf bifurcation in one case, and a supercritical Bogdanov-Takens bifurcation in two other cases. We also show that PWS cycles associated with BF bifurcations persist as relaxation cycles in the smooth system, and prove existence of a family of stable limit cycles which connects the relaxation cycles to regular cycles within the $ε-$dependent domain described above. Our results are applied to models for Gause predator-prey interaction and mechanical oscillation subject to friction.

math.DS↗

arXiv2021

Shock-fronted travelling waves in a reaction-diffusion model with nonlinear forward-backward-forward diffusion

Reaction-diffusion equations (RDEs) are often derived as continuum limits of lattice-based discrete models. Recently, a discrete model which allows the rates of movement, proliferation and death to depend upon whether the agents are isolated has been proposed, and this approach gives various RDEs where the diffusion term is convex and can become negative (Johnston et al., Sci. Rep. 7, 2017), i.e. forward-backward-forward diffusion. Numerical simulations suggest these RDEs support shock-fronted travelling waves when the reaction term includes an Allee effect. In this work we formalise these preliminary numerical observations by analysing the shock-fronted travelling waves through embedding the RDE into a larger class of higher order partial differential equations (PDEs). Subsequently, we use geometric singular perturbation theory to study this larger class of equations and prove the existence of these shock-fronted travelling waves. Most notable, we show that different embeddings yield shock-fronted travelling waves with different properties.

math.DS↗

arXiv2021

Singularly Perturbed Boundary-Equilibrium Bifurcations

Boundary equilibria bifurcation (BEB) arises in piecewise-smooth systems when an equilibrium collides with a discontinuity set under parameter variation. Singularly perturbed BEB refers to a bifurcation arising in singular perturbation problems which limit as some $ε\to 0$ to piecewise-smooth (PWS) systems which undergo a BEB. This work completes a classification for codimension-1 singularly perturbed BEB in the plane initiated by the present authors in [19], using a combination of tools from PWS theory, geometric singular perturbation theory (GSPT) and a method of geometric desingularization known as blow-up. After deriving a local normal form capable of generating all 12 singularly perturbed BEBs, we describe the unfolding in each case. Detailed quantitative results on saddle-node, Andronov-Hopf, homoclinic and codimension-2 Bogdanov-Takens bifurcations involved in the unfoldings and classification are presented. Each bifurcation is singular in the sense that it occurs within a domain which shrinks to zero as $ε\to 0$ at a rate determined by the rate at which the system loses smoothness. Detailed asymptotics for a distinguished homoclinic connection which forms the boundary between two singularly perturbed BEBs in parameter space are also given. Finally, we describe the explosive onset of oscillations arising in the unfolding of a particular singularly perturbed boundary-node (BN) bifurcation. We prove the existence of the oscillations as perturbations of PWS cycles, and derive a growth rate which is polynomial in $ε$ and dependent on the rate at which the system loses smoothness. For all the results presented herein, corresponding results for regularized PWS systems are obtained via the limit $ε\to 0$.

math.DS↗

arXiv2020

Local theory for spatio-temporal canards and delayed bifurcations

We present a rigorous framework for the local analysis of canards and slow passages through bifurcations in a wide class of infinite-dimensional dynamical systems with time-scale separation. The framework is applicable to models where an infinite-dimensional dynamical system for the fast variables is coupled to a finite-dimensional dynamical system for slow variables. We prove the existence of centre-manifolds for generic models of this type, and study the reduced, finite-dimensional dynamics near bifurcations of (possibly) patterned steady states in the layer problem. Theoretical results are complemented with detailed examples and numerical simulations covering systems of local- and nonlocal-reaction diffusion equations, neural field models, and delay-differential equations. We provide analytical foundations for numerical observations recently reported in literature, such as spatio-temporal canards and slow-passages through Hopf bifurcations in spatially-extended systems subject to slow parameter variations. We also provide a theoretical analysis of slow passage through a Turing bifurcation in local and nonlocal models.

math.DS↗

arXiv2020

Contact singularities in nonstandard slow-fast dynamical systems

We develop the contact singularity theory for singularly-perturbed (or `slow-fast') vector fields of the general form $z' = H(z,\varepsilon)$, $z\in\mathbb{R}^n$ and $\varepsilon\ll 1$. Our main result is the derivation of computable, coordinate-independent defining equations for contact singularities under an assumption that the leading-order term of the vector field admits a suitable factorization. This factorization can in turn be computed explicitly in a wide variety of applications. We demonstrate these computable criteria by locating contact folds and, for the first time, contact cusps in some nonstandard models of biochemical oscillators.

math.DS↗

arXiv2019

Singularly Perturbed Oscillators with Exponential Nonlinearities

Singular exponential nonlinearities of the form $e^{h(x)ε^{-1}}$ with $ε>0$ small occur in many different applications. These terms have essential singularities for $ε=0$ leading to very different behaviour depending on the sign of $h$. In this paper, we consider two prototypical singularly perturbed oscillators with such exponential nonlinearities. We apply a suitable normalization for both systems such that the $ε\rightarrow 0$ limit is a piecewise smooth system. The convergence to this nonsmooth system is exponential due to the nonlinearities we study. By working on the two model systems we use a blow-up approach to demonstrate that this exponential convergence can be harmless in some cases while in other scenarios it can lead to further degeneracies. For our second model system, we deal with such degeneracies due to exponentially small terms by extending the space dimension, following the approach in Kristiansen [20], and prove - for both systems - existence of (unique) limit cycles by perturbing away from singular cycles having desirable hyperbolicity properties.

math.DS↗

arXiv2019

Two-Stroke Relaxation Oscillators

Two-stroke relaxation oscillations consist of two distinct phases per cycle - one slow and one fast - which distinguishes them from the well-known van der Pol-type 'four-stroke' relaxation oscillations. This type of oscillation can be found in singular perturbation problems in non-standard form, where the slow-fast timescale splitting is not necessarily reflected in a slow-fast variable splitting. The existing literature on such non-standard problems has developed primarily through applications - we compliment this by providing a general framework for the application of geometric singular perturbation theory in this non-standard setting and illustrate its applicability by proving existence and uniqueness results on a general class of two-stroke relaxation oscillators. We apply this non-standard geometric singular perturbation toolbox to a collection of examples arising in the dynamics of nonlinear transistors and models for mechanical oscillators with friction.

math.DS↗

arXiv2019

Computational singular perturbation method for nonstandard slow-fast systems

The computational singular perturbation (CSP) method is an algorithm which iteratively approximates slow manifolds and fast fibers in multiple-timescale dynamical systems. Since its inception due to Lam and Goussis, the convergence of the CSP method has been explored in depth; however, rigorous applications have been confined to the standard framework, where the separation between `slow' and `fast' variables is made explicit in the dynamical system. This paper adapts the CSP method to {\it nonstandard} slow-fast systems having a normally hyperbolic attracting critical manifold. We give new formulas for the CSP method in this more general context, and provide the first concrete demonstrations of the method on genuinely nonstandard examples.

math.DS↗

arXiv2014

Mixed mode oscillations in a conceptual climate model

Much work has been done on relaxation oscillations and other simple oscillators in conceptual climate models. However, the oscillatory patterns in climate data are often more complicated than what can be described by such mechanisms. This paper examines complex oscillatory behavior in climate data through the lens of mixed-mode oscillations. As a case study, a conceptual climate model with governing equations for global mean temperature, atmospheric carbon, and oceanic carbon is analyzed. The nondimensionalized model is a fast/slow system with one fast variable (corresponding to ice volume) and two slow variables (corresponding to the two carbon stores). Geometric singular perturbation theory is used to demonstrate the existence of a folded node singularity. A parameter regime is found in which (singular) trajectories that pass through the folded node are returned to the singular funnel in the limiting case where $ε= 0$. In this parameter regime, the model has a stable periodic orbit of type $1^s$ for some $s>0$. To our knowledge, it is the first conceptual climate model demonstrated to have the capability to produce an MMO pattern.

math.DS↗