Speaker: Rachel Kuske,
Department of Mathematics,
University of British Columbia

Title:Hidden stochastic multi-scale dynamics in biological models

Abstract:his talk will cover a few applications in stochastic biological models, where the noise-sensitive effects result from hidden features in the models. The focus will be on the phenomenon of sustained oscillations through stochastic effects in otherwise quiescent systems.
One interesting feature is that the oscillations have a strongly deterministic behavior, even though they are purely noise-induced,and they can be amplified through a phenomenon related to coherence resonance.
A new stochastic multi-scale approach illustrates analytically what the deterministic oscillation is, why it appears, how it is modulated by noise, and the conditions under which it might be expected. We show how this approach generalizes to a number of different types of models, including SIR, population models, and related models with delays.