[This is the old program from WS 2007/08. The current program and contact information can be found here.]

05 October 2007, 16:00

Atsushi Tero (Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan)
Traffic-adaptive networking by a real amoebae of Physarum [Abstract]

Toshiyuki Nakagaki (Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan)
Amoebae anticipate periodic events [Abstract]

12 October 2007, 16:00

Takao Ohta (Department of Physics, Kyoto University, Japan)
Turing patterns in three dimensions [Abstract]

02 November 2007, 16:00

Karsten Kruse (Theoretische Physik, Universität des Saarlandes)
Active behavior of the cytoskeleton [Abstract]

09 November 2007, 16:00 Haber-Villa

Peter Tass (Institut für Neurowissenschaften und Biophysik, Forschungszentrum Jülich)
Model based development of desynchronizing brain stimulation techniques [Abstract]

30 November 2007, 16:00

Pablo Kaluza (Fritz-Haber-Institut der MPG)
Evolutionary design of complex functional networks [Abstract]

14 December 2007, 16:00 Haber-Villa

Hans-Günther Döbereiner (Institut für Biophysik, Universität Bremen)
Dynamic Phase Transitions and Collective Modes in Cell Spreading [Abstract]

18 January 2008, 16:00

Hiroya Nakao (Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin)
Phase coherence in an ensemble of uncoupled nonlinear oscillators induced by correlated noise

Abstract:
Synchronization among nonlinear oscillations is ubiquitous in nature, from chemical oscillations and lasers, to neurons and ecological systems. Recently, synchronization among uncoupled oscillators receiving a common fluctuating signal is attracting interest, which may be relevant to neural information processing, population dynamics in ecology, etc. In this talk, I will review some of the previous works and present our recent and ongoing studies on this topic, with emphasis on phase-reduction approach to limit cycles. For weak Gaussian driving signals, we can generalize the previous works based on local stability analysis of synchronized states by adopting the averaging method, which directly yields stationary distributions of phase differences and provides global stability of the synchronized state as well as possibility of clustered and more general phase-coherent states. For Poisson impulsive signals, a phase-reduction analysis can be concisely developed by using the theory of jump stochastic processes, which predicts synchronization, desynchronization, and clustering of the oscillators from knowledge of the phase response curve, a very basic quantity of the limit-cycle oscillator. The results can be quantitatively confirmed in numerical simulations and circuit experiments. I will also briefly touch on our ongoing studies on limit cycles with noisy phase response curves, quantitative phase description of chaotic oscillators, and synchronization between two uncoupled populations undergoing collective oscillations.

08 February 2008, 16:00

Stefan Luther (Max-Planck-Institut für Dynamik und Selbstorganisation, Göttingen)
Noninvasive adaptive multisite pacing of the heart [Abstract]

22 February 2008, 16:00

Wolffram Schröer (Institut für Anorganische und Physikalische Chemie, Universität Bremen)
Criticality and corresponding states in ionic systems [Abstract]