geometric phase shift

[Eric Postma]

The following paper (draft version) is available from our archive:


            GEOMETRIC PHASE SHIFT IN A NEURAL OSCILLATOR

         Eric Postma, Jaap van den Herik and Patrick Hudson

                    Computer Science Department
                      University of Maastricht
                  P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht
                          The Netherlands

                              ABSTRACT

This paper studies the effect of slow cyclic variation of parameters on 
the phase of the oscillating Morris-Lecar model. In chemical 
oscillators it is known that a phase shift, called the geometric phase 
shift, is observed upon return to an initial point in parameter space. 
We find geometric phase shifts for a two-parameter variation in the 
Morris-Lecar model. As with the chemical oscillator, the magnitude of 
the shift is proportional to the area enclosed by the path traced 
through the parameter space. It is argued that the geometric phase 
shift may subserve many biological functions. We conclude that the 
geometric phase shift may be functionally relevant for neural 
computation.


ftp://ftp.cs.rulimburg.nl/pub/papers/postma/gps.ps.Z (or gps.ps)

We welcome your comments and suggestions

        Eric Poatma