Evolution of spatiotemporal patterns during the electrodissolution of metals: Experiments and simulations

Topological characterization versus synchronization for assessing (or not) dynamical equivalence

Model validation from experimental data is an important and not trivial topic which is too often reduced to a simple visual inspection of the state portrait spanned by the variables of the system. Synchronization was suggested as a possible technique for model validation. By means of a topological analysis, we revisited this concept with the help of an abstract chemical reaction system and data from two electrodissolution experiments conducted by Jack Hudson's group. The fact that it was possible to synchronize topologically different global models led us to conclude that synchronization is not a recommendable technique for model validation. A short historical preamble evokes Jack Hudson's early career in interaction with Otto E. Rössler.

Spatiotemporal coding in an electrochemical oscillatory network

A network consisting of N relaxation electrochemical oscillators, mutually coupled by all-to-all inhibitory connections, can have (N-1) ! coexisting out-of-phase states, each state being a permutation of a periodic spiking sequence. The modification of the out-of-phase states by shots of laser pulse perturbations is shown. In such networks the phase relation of the oscillators is stored as a coded pattern. The ability of the network to function as a rewritable memory of (N-1) ! different spatiotemporal patterns is demonstrated experimentally for N=4.