The three way Dirac operator and dynamical Turing and Dirac induced patterns on nodes and links

Topological signals are dynamical variables not only defined on nodes but also on links of a network that are gaining significant attention in non-linear dynamics and topology and have important applications in brain dynamics. Here we show that topological signals on nodes and links of a network can generate dynamical patterns when coupled together. In particular, dynamical patterns require at least three topological signals, here taken to be two node signals and one link signal. In order to couple these signals, we formulate the 3-way topological Dirac operator that generalizes previous definitions of the 2-way and 4-way topological Dirac operators. We characterize the spectral properties of the 3-way Dirac operator and we investigate the dynamical properties of the resulting Turing and Dirac induced patterns. Here we emphasize the distinct dynamical properties of the Dirac induced patterns which involve topological signals only coupled by the 3-way topological Dirac operator in absence of the Hodge–Laplacian coupling. While the observed Turing patterns generalize the Turing patterns typically investigated on networks, the Dirac induced patterns have no equivalence within the framework of node based Turing patterns. These results open new scenarios in the study of Turing patterns with possible application to neuroscience and more generally to the study of emergent patterns in complex systems.