Multiple modes of bursting phenomena in a vector field of triple Hopf bifurcation with two time scales

For the development of the theoretical framework of slow–fast dynamics, it is essential to study the mechanism of bursting oscillations with high co-dimensional bifurcations in the high-dimensional vector field. This paper is aimed to explore the bursting oscillations in the normal form up to the third order of a vector field with triple Hopf bifurcation at the origin. We establish an eight-dimension system with the slow–fast effect, in which two time scales exist. The fast subsystem is represented as a six-dimensional vector field with triple Hopf bifurcation at the origin, while the slow subsystem is adopted to adjust the variation of parameters in the fast subsystem, which may lead to abundant dynamic behaviors. To better understand the qualitatively different behaviors in the fast subsystem, the trivial solution, single-mode, two-mode, and three-mode movements are introduced based on the projections of trajectory on the three sub-planes. As a result, several types of bursting phenomena, such as Hopf/Hopf bursting oscillations with single-mode, Hopf/Hopf/fold bursting oscillations with single-mode, Hopf/Hopf bursting oscillations with two-mode have been revealed, the mechanism of which is obtained upon the superposition of equilibrium branches together with bifurcations in the fast subsystem as well as transformed phase portrait. In addition, for bursting oscillations on the whole phase space, the amplitude of spiking oscillations may change according to two different limit cycles, which leads to an abrupt change of the oscillating amplitude on the sub-plane, corresponding to different projections of Poincaré. It can be observed the state variables on the different sub-planes alternate between synchronized and non-synchronized states in the fast subsystem, which may be accounted for by the bifurcations.