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Van der Pol oscillator


Takashi Kanamaru (2007), Scholarpedia, 2(1):2202. doi:10.4249/scholarpedia.2202 revision #138698 [link to/cite this article]

Takashi Kanamaru, Kogakuin University, Japan

The van der Pol oscillator is an oscillator with nonlinear damping


governed by the second-order differential equation

Figure 1: Flows for << 1 of the van der


Pol oscillator written by equations (4) and
(5). The dynamics of the point are also
shown for = 0.1 .

x (1 x2 )x + x = 0 , (1)

where x is the dynamical variable and > 0 a parameter. This model was proposed by Balthasar van der Pol (1889-1959)
in 1920 when he was an engineer working for Philips Company (in the Netherlands).

Contents
1 Analysis
1.1 Small Damping
1.2 Large Damping
2 Electrical Circuit
3 Periodic Forcing and Deterministic Chaos
4 References
5 External Links
6 See Also

Analysis

When x is small, the quadratic term x2 is negligible and the system becomes a linear differential equation with a negative
damping x . Thus, the fixed point (x = 0, x = 0) is unstable (an unstable focus when 0 < < 2 and an unstable
node, otherwise). On the other hand, when x is large, the term x2 becomes dominant and the damping becomes positive.
Therefore, the dynamics of the system is expected to be restricted in some area around the fixed point. Actually, the van
der Pol system (1) satisfies the Linard's theorem ensuring that there is a stable limit cycle in the phase space.The van der
Pol system is therefore a Linard system.
http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Van_der_Pol_oscillator

Using the Linard's transformation y = x x3 /3 x/ , equation (1) can be rewritten as

1 3
x = (x x y) (2)
3

x
y = (3)

which can be regarded as a special case of the FitzHugh-Nagumo model (also known as Bonhoeffer-van der Pol model).

Small Damping
When << 1, it is convenient to rewrite equation (1) as

Figure 2: Change in x over time for = 0.1 with


x(0) = 0.5 and y(0) = 0 .

1 3
x = (x x )y (4)
3

y = x (5)

where the transformation y = (x x3 /3) x was used. When = 0 , the system preserves the energy and has the
solution x = A cos(t + ) and y = A sin(t + ) . To obtain the approximated solution for small , new variables
(u, v) which rotate with the unperturbed solution, i.e.,

u = x cos t + y sin t

v = x sin t + y cos t

are considered. By substituting them into equations (4) and (5), we obtain

1
u = [u cos t v sin t (u cos t v sin t)3 ] cos t (6)
3

1
v = [u cos t v sin t (u cos t v sin t)3 ] sin t . (7)
3

Because u and v are O() , the varying speed of u and v is much slower than cos t and sin t . Therefore, the averaging
theory can be applied to equations (6) and (7). Integrating the righthand sides of equations (6) and (7) with respect to t
from 0 to T = 2 , keeping u and v fixed,
http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Van_der_Pol_oscillator


u = u[4 (u2 + v2 )]
8


v = v[4 (u2 + v2 )]
8

are obtained. Introducing r = u2 + v2 , a differential equation

r = r (4 r2 ) (8)
8

which has a stable equilibrium with r = 2 is obtained. Therefore, the original system (4) and (5) has a stable limit cycle
with r = 2 for small .

Large Damping
When >> 1, it is convenient to use equations (2) and (3).
When the system is away from the curve y = x x3 /3 , a
relation |x| >> |y | = O(1/) is obtained from equations (2)
and (3). Therefore, the system moves quickly in the horizontal
direction. When the system enters the region where
|x x3 /3 y| = O(1/2 ) , x and y are comparable
because both of them are O(1/) . Then the system goes
slowly along the curve, and eventually exits from this region.
Such a situation is shown in Figure 3. It can be observed that
the system has a stable limit cycle.

It is also observed that the period of oscillation is determined


mainly by the time during which the system stays around the Figure 3: Flows for >> 1 of the van der Pol oscillator
cubic function where both x and y are O(1/) . Thus, the written by equations (2) and (3). The dynamics of the
period of oscillation is roughly estimated to be T . point are also shown for = 10 .

When van der Pol (1927) realized equation (1) with an


electrical circuit composed of two resistances R and r , a
capacitance C , an inductance, and a tetrode, the period of
oscillation was determined by = RC in his circuit.
Because RC is the time constant of relaxation in RC
circuit, he named this oscillation as relaxation oscillation.
The characteristics of the relaxation oscillation are the slow
asymptotic behavior and the sudden discontinuous jump to
another value. Using few relaxation oscillations, van der Figure 4: Change in x over time for = 10 with
Pol and van der Mark (1928) modeled the electric activity x(0) = 0.5 and y(0) = 0 .
of the heart.

Electrical Circuit

To make electrical circuits described by equation (1), active circuit elements with the cubic nonlinear property,
i = (v) = v3 v , are required, where i and v are current and voltage, respectively. In the 1920s, van der Pol built
the oscillator using the triode or tetrode. After Reona Esaki (1925-) invented the tunnel diode in 1957, making the van der
Pol oscillator with electrical circuits became much simpler.
Using the tunnel diode with input-output relation
http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Van_der_Pol_oscillator

i = t (v) = (v E0 ) + I0

the equation for the circuit


shown in Figure 5 is written
as follows.

1
V = ((V ) W )
C

1
W = V Figure 5: An electrical circuit with a tunnel diode for the van der Pol oscillator.
L
This can be rewritten as

1 1
V ( 3V 2 )V + V =0 (9)
C LC

Introducing new variables x = 3/V , t = t/LC , and = L/C , equation (9) can be transformed into
equation (1). As shown in the previous section, when is large, the period of oscillation is proportional to . Thus, the

original system has a period T LC = L . Because has an order of the reciprocal of resistance r , T L/r is
obtained. L/R is the time constant of relaxation in LR circuit; therefore, the name of "relaxation oscillation" is justified.

The electrical circuit elements with the nonlinear property can also be realized using operational amplifiers. By this
method, much research has been done to study the nonlinear dynamics in physical systems.

Periodic Forcing and Deterministic Chaos

Van der Pol had already examined the response of the van der
Pol oscillator to a periodic forcing in his paper in 1920, which
can be formulated as

2t
x (1 x2 )x + x = F cos( )
Tin

There exist two frequencies in this system, namely, the


frequency of self-oscillation determined by and the
frequency of the periodic forcing. The response of the system
is shown in Figure 6 (upper) for Tin = 10 and F = 1.2 . It is
observed that the mean period Tout of x often locks to
mTin /n , where m and n are integers. It is also known that
chaos can be found in the system when the nonlinearity of the
system is sufficiently strong.Figure 6 (lower) shows the largest
Lyapunov exponent, and it is observed that chaos takes place
in the narrow ranges of .
Figure 6: A response of the system to a periodic
Van der Pol and van der Mark (1927) considered an electrical forcing with Tin = 10 and F = 1.2
circuit composed of a resistance, a capacitance, and a Ne lamp,
and they heard the response of the system by inserting the
telephone receivers into their circuit. Besides the locking behaviors, they heard irregular noises before the period of the
system jumps to the next value. They stated that this noise is a subsidiary phenomenon, but today it is thought that they
heard the deterministic chaos in 1927 before Yoshisuke Ueda (1961) and Edward Lorenz (1963). Nevertheless, van der
http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Van_der_Pol_oscillator

Pol did not identify the structure underlying a chaotic attractor in the phase space. Lorenz published a picture of a chaotic
attractor in the phase space in the early 60s and Ueda did in the early 70s.
Typical sounds of the system can be heard in the following links (before clicking the link, please lower the volume of your
speaker)
(A) Media:vdP-Periodic1.mp3 (Periodic, = 6 )
(B) Media:vdP-Chaotic.mp3 (Chaotic, = 8.53 )
(C) Media:vdP-Periodic2.mp3 (Periodic, = 10 )
where (A), (B), and (C) correspond to the letters in Figure 6. A transformation of the timescale was applied so that the
oscillation with Tout = 10 was transformed into the oscillation with 440 [Hz]. An irregular noise would be heard when
chaos exists in the system.

The locking behaviors of the mean period can be understood using the circle map and related mappings. This was done in
a series of papers by M.L. Cartwright and J.E. Littlewood (1945-1950) and in work on an important piece-wise linear
approximation by N. Levinson (1949). Both of these investigations uncovered "random-like" dynamics. Levinson's
analysis led to S. Smale's introduction of the horseshoe mapping, which was used by M. Levi (1981) to complete the
picture of limit behavior of all solutions. van der Pol's model was simulated using high resolution computations by J.E.
Flaherty and F.C. Hoppensteadt (1978) who identified overlapping regions in the parameter domain where phase locking
occurs, similar to Arnold's tongues. That work motivated a successful investigation of phase-locking in neural tissue done
by R. Guttman et al.(See Voltage-Controlled Oscillations in Neurons). As for chaos in the Arnold's tongues, please see
Horita et al. (1988) and Ott (1993).

References

B. van der Pol, A theory of the amplitude of free and forced triode vibrations, Radio Review, 1, 701-710, 754-762,
1920.
E. V. Appleton and B. van der Pol, On the form of free triode vibrations, The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin
Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science Ser.6, 42, 201-220, 1921.
E. V. Appleton and B. van der Pol, On a type of oscillation-hysteresis in a simple triode generator, The London,
Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science Ser.6, 43, 177-193, 1922.
B. van der Pol, On oscillation hysteresis in a triode generator with two degrees of freedom, The London, Edinburgh,
and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science Ser.6, 43, 700-719, 1922.
B. van der Pol, On "relaxation-oscillations", The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal
of Science Ser.7, 2, 978-992, 1926.
B. van der Pol, Forced oscillations in a circuit with non-linear resistance (reception with reactive triode), The London,
Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science Ser.7, 3, 65-80, 1927.
B. van der Pol and J. van der Mark, Frequency demultiplication, Nature, 120, 363-364, 1927
B. van der Pol and J. van der Mark, The heartbeat considered as a relaxation oscillation, and an electrical model of the
heart. The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science Ser.7, 6, 763-775, 1928.
B. van der Pol, The nonlinear theory of electric oscillations, Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers, 22,
1051-1086, 1934.
M. L. Cartwright and J. E. Littlewood, On non-linear differential equations of the second order: I. The equation
y k(1 y 2 )y + y = bkcos(t + a); k large, Journal of the London Mathematical Society, 20, 180-189, 1945.
N. Levinson, A second order differential equation with singular solutions, Ann. Math., 50, No. 1, 127-153, 1949.
M.L. Cartwright, Forced oscillations in nonlinear systems, Contrib. to theory of nonlinear oscillations, Princeton
http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Van_der_Pol_oscillator

University Press (Study 20) 149-241, 1950.


R. FitzHugh, Impulses and physiological states in models of nerve membrane, Biophysical Journal, 1, 445-466, 1961.
J. Nagumo, S. Arimoto, and S. Yoshizawa, An active pulse transmission line simulating nerve axon, Proceedings of
the Institute of Radio Engineers, 50, 2061-2070, 1962.
J.E. Flaherty, F.C. Hoppensteadt, Frequency entrainment of a forced van der Pol oscillator, Studies in Appl. Math., 58,
5-15, 1978.
M. Levi, Qualitative analysis of the periodically forced relaxation oscillations, Memoirs of the Amer. Math. Soc., 32,
No. 244, 1981.
J. Guckenheimer and P. Holmes, Nonlinear oscillations, dynamical systems, and bifurcations of vector fields, Springer-
Verlag, 1983.
T. Horita, H. Hata, H. Mori, T. Morita, K. Tomita, S. Kuroki, and H. Okamoto, Local Structures of Chaotic Attractors
and q-Phase Transitions at Attractor-Merging Crises in the Sine-Circle Maps, Progress of Theoretical Physics, 80,
793-808, 1988
E. Ott, Chaos in Dynamical Systems, Cambridge University Press, New York, 1993.
Internal references
John W. Milnor (2006) Attractor. Scholarpedia, 1(11):1815.
Jan A. Sanders (2006) Averaging. Scholarpedia, 1(11):1760.
James Meiss (2007) Dynamical systems. Scholarpedia, 2(2):1629.
Eugene M. Izhikevich (2007) Equilibrium. Scholarpedia, 2(10):2014.
Eugene M. Izhikevich and Richard FitzHugh (2006) FitzHugh-Nagumo model. Scholarpedia, 1(9):1349.
Jeff Moehlis, Kresimir Josic, Eric T. Shea-Brown (2006) Periodic orbit. Scholarpedia, 1(7):1358.
Steve Smale and Michael Shub (2007) Smale horseshoe. Scholarpedia, 2(11):3012.
Philip Holmes and Eric T. Shea-Brown (2006) Stability. Scholarpedia, 1(10):1838.
Frank Hoppensteadt (2006) Voltage-controlled oscillations in neurons. Scholarpedia, 1(11):1599.

External Links

Takashi Kanamaru's website (http://brain.cc.kogakuin.ac.jp/~kanamaru/)


Balthasar Van der Pol, 1889 - 1959 (http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/history_center/biography/vanderpol.html)
Introduction to Chaos and Nonlinear Dynamics (http://brain.cc.kogakuin.ac.jp/~kanamaru/Chaos/e/)

See Also

Averaging, Chaos, FitzHugh-Nagumo Model, Periodic Orbit, Relaxation Oscillator, Stability, Voltage-Controlled
Oscillations in Neurons

Sponsored by: Eugene M. Izhikevich, Editor-in-Chief of Scholarpedia, the peer-reviewed open-access encyclopedia
Reviewed by (http://www.scholarpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Van_der_Pol_oscillator&oldid=7075) : Anonymous
Accepted on: 2007-01-08 17:49:40 GMT (http://www.scholarpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Van_der_Pol_oscillator&
oldid=7075)

Categories: Oscillators Dynamical Systems Computational Neuroscience Mathematical Biology


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