Remote response modes on the paced excitable C. elegans network

Abstract

In paced excitable systems, a traditional viewpoint on signal transmission is that an excitable pacing signal should propagate from the source to its excited neighbors in a sequential rule, which is known as the normal sequential response mode (SRM). However, in our present paper, by extensively exploring the response modes emerged on the paced excitable C. elegans network, we found that, besides the normal SRM, a response mode that breaks the sequence rule and contains isolated excited clusters or even isolated excited nodes on the propagation path of the response structure can be detected. Such remote response nodes and clusters are excited discontinuously from the source node, forming the phenomenon of the remote response mode (RRM). An effective-driving analysis approach (EDAA) is proposed to theoretically study the mechanism of the RRM, based on which key role played by the excited nodes possessing nonexcited upstream driving neighbors is confirmed in the formation of the RRM. We further verify the applicability and the universality of the EDAA in identifying the RRM on general paced excitable networks. These contributions are expected to shed light on the study of complex response modes in paced excitable systems and to have great impact in related topics.