We report the phenomenon of self-organized emergence of hierarchical multilayered structures and chimera states in dynamical networks with adaptive couplings. This process is characterized by a sequential formation of subnetworks (layers) of densely coupled elements, the size of which is ordered in a hierarchical way, and which are weakly coupled between each other. We show that the hierarchical structure causes the decoupling of the subnetworks. Each layer can exhibit either a two-cluster state, a periodic traveling wave, or an incoherent state, and these states can coexist on different scales of subnetwork sizes.

We show that firing activity (spiking) can be regularized by noise in a FitzHugh-Nagumo (FHN) neuron model when operating slightly beyond the supercritical Hopf bifurcation (in the "canard" region). We also provide the conditions for imperfect phase locking between interspike intervals and low amplitude quasiharmonic oscillations. For the imperfect phase locking no need exists of an external signal as it follows from the FHN intrinsic dynamics.

Adaptive dynamical networks appear in various real-word systems. One of the simplest phenomenological models for investigating basic properties of adaptive networks is the system of coupled phase oscillators with adaptive couplings. In this paper, we investigate the dynamics of this system. We extend recent results on the appearance of hierarchical frequency-multi-clusters by investigating the effect of the time-scale separation. We show that the slow adaptation in comparison with the fast phase dynamics is necessary for the emergence of the multi-clusters and their stability. Additionally, we study the role of double antipodal clusters, which appear to be unstable for all considered parameter values. We show that such states can be observed for a relatively long time, i.e., they are metastable. A geometrical explanation for such an effect is based on the emergence of a heteroclinic orbit.

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