Predicting transient dynamics in a model of reed musical instrument with slowly time-varying control parameter.

When playing a self-sustained reed instrument (such as the clarinet), initial acoustical transients (at the beginning of a note) are known to be of crucial importance. Nevertheless, they have been mostly overlooked in the literature on musical instruments. We investigate here the dynamic behavior of a simple model of reed instrument with a time-varying blowing pressure accounting for attack transients performed by the musician.

Merging and disconnecting resonance tongues in a pulsing excitable microlaser with delayed optical feedback.

Excitability, encountered in numerous fields from biology to neurosciences and optics, is a general phenomenon characterized by an all-or-none response of a system to an external perturbation of a given strength. When subject to delayed feedback, excitable systems can sustain multistable pulsing regimes, which are either regular or irregular time sequences of pulses reappearing every delay time. Here, we investigate an excitable microlaser subject to delayed optical feedback and study the emergence of complex pulsing dynamics, including periodic, quasiperiodic, and irregular pulsing regimes.

Neural correlates of semantic ambiguity resolution in paucisymptomatic bipolar disorder patients.

In addition to symptoms specifically related to mood dysregulation, patients with bipolar disorder (BD) show frequent alterations in formal thought organization. A disruption in semantic processing, notably in semantic inhibition, is one of the possible mechanisms that might explain this modified organization. However, to date, little is known about these mechanisms and their underlying neural substrates.

Experimental analysis of non-periodic sound regimes in flute-like musical instruments.

Self-sustained musical instruments are complex nonlinear dynamical systems that are known to produce a wealth of dynamical regimes. This includes different kinds of non-periodic sounds, which are either played on purpose or avoided depending on the cultural and musical context. We investigate non-periodic sounds produced by two types of flute-like instruments, namely, an alto recorder and traditional pan-like flutes from Central Chile.

Pulse-timing symmetry breaking in an excitable optical system with delay.

Excitable systems with delayed feedback are important in areas from biology to neuroscience and optics. They sustain multistable pulsing regimes with different numbers of equidistant pulses in the feedback loop. Experimentally and theoretically, we report on the pulse-timing symmetry breaking of these regimes in an optical system.