arXiv subjects

Qiliang Wu

Publications and source records attributed to Qiliang Wu.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A Heterogeneous FitzHugh-Nagumo Model Exhibiting Local and Regional Dynamics that Mimic Spontaneous Atrial Fibrillation

We study two-dimensional networks of FitzHugh-Nagumo oscillators in regimes that mimic cardiac tissue. The networks include small layers of cells that have fast-recovery characteristics and adjacent layers of cells that have slow-recovery. Numerical simulations show that the boundary between the fast- and slow-recovery cells can initiate fibrillatory-like behavior when activated by a single, healthy wave in the network. We discuss possible connections between these structures and the onset of atrial fibrillation, with the goal of improving our understanding and treatment of this costly condition. Our main conclusion is that a single, normal excitation of small areas of heterogeneity embedded in healthy tissue can initiate arrhythmias and the two dimensional network can then sustain irregular firing patterns in the form of double swirling-back curves and spiral waves. This occurs with a very simple model of excitable cells and we give a clear mechanistic description of the arrhythmia. The model illustrates how increasing heterogeneity in heart tissue can progressively cause first intermittent and then persistent arrhythmic behavior. Another conclusion is that the center of problematic firings can drift away from the heterogeneity into healthy tissue, thus presenting phantom targets for treatment.

math.DS↗

arXiv2025

Nonlinear Stability of Large-Period Traveling Waves Bifurcating from the Heteroclinic Loop in the FitzHugh-Nagumo Equation

A wave front and a wave back that spontaneously connect two hyperbolic equilibria, known as a heteroclinic wave loop, give rise to periodic waves with arbitrarily large spatial periods through the heteroclinic bifurcation. The nonlinear stability of these periodic waves is established in the setting of the FitzHugh-Nagumo equation, which is a well-known reaction-diffusion model with degenerate diffusion. First, for general systems, we give the expressions of spectra with small modulus for linearized operators about these periodic waves via the Lyapunov-Schmidt reduction and the Lin-Sandstede method. Second, applying these spectral results to the FitzHugh-Nagumo equation, we establish their diffusive spectral stability. Finally, we consider the nonlinear stability of these periodic waves against localized perturbations. We introduce a spatiotemporal phase modulation $φ$, and couple it with the associated modulated perturbation $\mathbf{V}$ along with the unmodulated perturbation $\mathbf{\widetilde{V}}$ to close a nonlinear iteration argument.

math.AP↗

arXiv2024

Weak Diffusive Stability of Roll Solutions at the Zigzag Boundary

Roll solutions at the zigzag boundary, typically selected by patterns and defects in numerical simulations, are shown to be nonlinearly stable. This result also serves as an example that linear decay weaker than the classical diffusive decay, together with quadratic nonlinearity, still gives nonlinear stability of spatially periodic patterns. Linear analysis reveals that, instead of the classical $t^{-1}$ diffusive decay rate, small perturbations of roll solutions at the zigzag boundary decay with a $t^{-3/4}$ rate along with time, due to the degeneracy of the quadratic term of the continuation of the translational mode of the linearized operator in the Bloch-Fourier spaces. The nonlinear stability proof is based on a decomposition of the neutral translational mode and the faster decaying modes in the Bloch-Fourier space, and a fixed-point argument, demonstrating the irrelevancy of the nonlinear terms.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2024

Pinning and dipole asymptotics of locally deformed striped phases

We investigate the effect of spatial inhomogeneity on perfectly periodic, self-organized striped patterns in spatially extended systems. We demonstrate that inhomogeneities select a specific translate of the striped patterns and induce algebraically decaying, dipole-type farfield deformations. Phase shifts and leading order terms are determined by effective moments of the spatial inhomogeneity. Farfield decay is proportional to the derivatives of the Green's function of an effective Laplacian. Technically, we use mode filters and conjugacies to an effective Laplacian to establish Fredholm properties of the linearization in Kondratiev spaces. Spatial localization in a contraction argument is gained through the use of an explicit deformation ansatz and a subtle cancellation in Bloch wave space.

math.AP↗

arXiv2023

Nonlinear Stability at the Zigzag Boundary

We investigate the dynamics of roll solutions at the zigzag boundary of the planar Swift-Hohenberg equation. Linear analysis shows an algebraic decay of small perturbation with a $t^{- 1/4}$ rate, instead of the classical $t^{- 1/2}$ diffusive decay rate, due to the degeneracy of the quadratic term of the continuation of the translational mode of the linearized operator in the Bloch-Fourier spaces. The proof is based on a decomposition of the neutral mode and the faster decaying modes in the Bloch-Fourier space, and a fixed-point argument, demonstrating the irrelevancy of the nonlinear terms.

math.AP↗

arXiv2022

Undulated Bilayer Interfaces in the Planar Functionalized Cahn-Hilliard Equation

Experiments with diblock co-polymer melts display undulated bilayers that emanate from defects such as triple junctions and endcaps, \cite{batesjain_2004}. Undulated bilayers are characterized by oscillatory perturbations of the bilayer width, which decay on a spatial length scale that is long compared to the bilayer width. We mimic defects within the functionalized Cahn-Hillard free energy by introducing spatially localized inhomogeneities within its parameters. For length parameter $\varepsilon\ll1$, we show that this induces undulated bilayer solutions whose width perturbations decay on an $O\!\left(\varepsilon^{-1/2}\right)$ inner length scale that is long in comparison to the $O(1)$ scale that characterizes the bilayer width.

math.AP↗

arXiv2021

Orbital Stability of the sum of Smooth solitons in the Degasperis-Procesi Equation

The Degasperis-Procesi (DP) equation is an integrable Camassa-Holm-type model as an asymptotic approximation for the unidirectional propagation of shallow water waves. This work is to establish the $L^2\cap L^\infty$ orbital stability of a wave train containing $N$ smooth solitons which are well separated. The main difficulties stem from the subtle nonlocal structure of the DP equation. One consequence is that the energy space of the DE equation based on the conserved quantity induced by the translation symmetry is only equivalent to the $L^2$-norm, which by itself can not bound the higher-order nonlinear terms in the Lagrangian. Our remedy is to introduce \textit{a priori } estimates based on certain smooth initial conditions. Moreover, another consequence is that the nonlocal structure of the DP equation significantly complicates the verification of the monotonicity of local momentum and the positive definiteness of a refined quadratic form of the orthogonalized perturbation.

math.AP↗

arXiv2020

Orbital Stability of smooth solitary waves for the Degasperis-Procesi Equation

The Degasperis-Procesi equation is the integrable Camassa-Holm-type model which is an asymptotic approximation for the unidirectional propagation of shallow water waves. This work establishes the orbital stability of localized smooth solitary waves to the Desgasperis-Procesi (DP) equation on the real line. %extending our previous work on their spectral stability \cite{LLW}. The main difficulty stems from the fact that the translation symmetry for the DP equation gives rise to a conserved quantity equivalent to the $L^2$-norm, which by itself can not bound the higher-order nonlinear terms in the Lagrangian. The remedy is to observe that, given a sufficiently smooth initial condition satisfying a measurable constraint, the $L^\infty$ orbital norm of the perturbation is bounded above by a function of its $L^2$ orbital norm, yielding the orbital stability in the $L^2\cap L^\infty$ space.

math.AP↗

arXiv2020

Entire Solutions of Diffusive Lotka-Volterra System

This work is concerned with the existence of entire solutions of the diffusive Lotka-Volterra competition system \begin{equation}\label{eq:abstract} \begin{cases} u_{t}= u_{xx} + u(1-u-av), & \qquad \ x\in\mathbb{R} \cr v_{t}= d v_{xx}+ rv(1-v-bu), & \qquad \ x\in\mathbb{R} \end{cases} \quad (1) \end{equation} where $d,r,a$, and $b$ are positive constants with $a\neq 1$ and $b\neq 1$. We prove the existence of some entire solutions $(u(t,x),v(t,x))$ of $(1)$ corresponding to $(Φ_{c}(ξ),0)$ at $t=-\infty$ (where $ξ=x-ct$ and $Φ_c$ is a traveling wave solution of the scalar Fisher-KPP defined by the first equation of $(1)$ when $a=0$). Moreover, we also describe the asymptotic behavior of these entire solutions as $t\to+\infty$. We prove existence of new entire solutions for both the weak and strong competition case. In the weak competition case, we prove the existence of a class of entire solutions that forms a 4-dimensional manifold.

math.AP↗

arXiv2019

Spectral stability of smooth solitary waves for the Degasperis-Procesi Equation

The Degasperis-Procesi equation is an approximating model of shallow-water wave propagating mainly in one direction to the Euler equations. Such a model equation is analogous to the Camassa-Holm approximation of the two-dimensional incompressible and irrotational Euler equations with the same asymptotic accuracy, and is integrable with the bi-Hamiltonian structure. In the present study, we establish existence and spectral stability results of localized smooth solitons to the Degasperis-Procesi equation on the real line. The stability proof relies essentially on refined spectral analysis of the linear operator corresponding to the second-order variational derivative of the Hamiltonian of the Degasperis-Procesi equation.

math.AP↗

arXiv2016

The Effect of Impurities on Striped Phases

We study the effect of algebraically localized impurities on striped phases in one space-dimension. We therefore develop a functional-analytic framework which allows us to cast the perturbation problem as a regular Fredholm problem despite the presence of essential spectrum, caused by the soft translational mode. Our results establish the selection of jumps in wavenumber and phase, depending on the location of the impurity and the average wavenumber in the system. We also show that, for select locations, the jump in the wavenumber vanishes.

math.AP↗

arXiv2015

Existence, Bifurcation, and Geometric Evolution of Quasi-Bilayers in the Multicomponent Functionalized Cahn-Hilliard Equation

Multicomponent bilayer structures arise as the ubiquitous plasma membrane in cellular biology and as blends of amphiphilic copolymers used in electrolyte membranes, drug delivery, and emulsion stabilization within the context of synthetic chemistry. We develop the multicomponent functionalized Cahn-Hilliard (mFCH) free energy as a model which allows competition between bilayers with distinct composition and between bilayers and higher codimensional structures, such as co-dimension two filaments and co-dimension three micelles. We investigate the stability and slow geometric evolution of multicomponent bilayer interfaces within the context of gradient flows of the mFCH, addressing the impact of aspect ratio of the lipid/copolymer unit on the intrinsic curvature and the codimensional bifurcation. In particular we derive a Canham-Helfrich sharp interface energy whose intrinsic curvature arises through a Melnikov parameter associated to lipid aspect ratio. We construct asymmetric homoclinic bilayer profiles via a billiard limit potential and show that the dominant co-dimensional bifurcation mechanism is via the layer-by-layer pearling observed experimentally.

math.AP↗

arXiv2014

Existence of pearled patterns in the planar Functionalized Cahn-Hilliard equation

The functionalized Cahn-Hilliard (FCH) equation supports planar and circular bilayer interfaces as equilibria which may lose their stability through the pearling bifurcation: a periodic, high-frequency, in-plane modulation of the bilayer thickness. In two spatial dimensions we employ spatial dynamics and a center manifold reduction to reduce the FCH equation to an 8th order ODE system. A normal form analysis and a fixed-point-theorem argument show that the reduced system admits a degenerate 1:1 resonant normal form, from which we deduce that the onset of the pearling bifurcation coincides with the creation of a two-parameter family of pearled equilibria which are periodic in the in-plane direction and exponentially localized in the transverse direction.

math.AP↗

arXiv2013

Diffusive stability of Turing patterns via normal forms

We investigate dynamics near Turing patterns in reaction-diffusion systems posed on the real line. Linear analysis predicts diffusive decay of small perturbations. We construct a "normal form" coordinate system near such Turing patterns which exhibits an approximate discrete conservation law. The key ingredients to the normal form is a conjugation of the reaction-diffusion system on the real line to a lattice dynamical system. At each lattice site, we decompose perturbations into neutral phase shifts and normal decaying components. As an application of our normal form construction, we prove nonlinear stability of Turing patterns with respect to perturbations that are small in $L^1\cap L^\infty$, with sharp rates.

math.AP↗