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Nonlinear phase-amplitude reduction of delay-induced oscillations

Spontaneous oscillations induced by time delays are observed in many real-world systems. Phase reduction theory for limit-cycle oscillators described by delay-differential equations (DDEs) has been developed to analyze their synchronization properties, but it is applicable only when the perturbation applied to the oscillator is sufficiently weak. In this study, we formulate a nonlinear phase-amplitude reduction theory for limit-cycle oscillators described by DDEs on the basis of the Floquet theorem, which is applicable when the oscillator is subjected to perturbations of moderate intensity. We propose a numerical method to evaluate the leading Floquet eigenvalues, eigenfunctions, and adjoint eigenfunctions necessary for the reduction and derive a set of low-dimensional nonlinear phase-amplitude equations approximately describing the oscillator dynamics. By analyzing an analytically tractable oscillator model with a cubic nonlinearity, we show that the asymptotic phase of the oscillator state in an infinite-dimensional state space can be approximately evaluated and non-trivial bistability of the oscillation amplitude caused by moderately strong periodic perturbations can be predicted on the basis of the derived phase-amplitude equations. We further analyze a model of gene-regulatory oscillator and illustrate that the reduced equations can elucidate the mechanism of its complex dynamics under non-weak perturbations, which may be relevant to real physiological phenomena such as circadian rhythm sleep disorders.