Existence and control of chimera states in networks of nonlocally coupled models of neuron oscillators

In a recent work, we have studied networks of two-dimensional and three-dimensional Hindmarsh-Rose oscillators and have discovered some very interesting oscillatory phenomena, called chimera states, in which synchronized neuronal ensembles coexist with completely asynchronous ones. In this paper, we summarize our work in connection with other studies on nonlocally coupled FitzHugh-Nagumo oscillators, examine the occurrence of chimera states in coupled bistable elements and point out that mixed oscillatory states also exist, in which desynchronized neurons are interspersed among neurons that oscillate in synchronous fashion. We also demonstrate, by a preliminary study, that it is possible to control these states by varying an external current parameter applied to the main potential variable in order to observe new phenomena that may be relevant in neuroscience applications.