Optimal Phase Description of Chaotic Oscillators

Abstract: We introduce an optimal phase description of chaotic oscillations by generalizing the concept of isochrones. On chaotic attractors possessing a general phase description, we define the optimal isophases as Poincar\'e surfaces showing return times as constant as possible. The dynamics of the resultant optimal phase is maximally decoupled of the amplitude dynamics, and provides a proper description of phase resetting of chaotic oscillations. The method is illustrated with the R\"ossler and Lorenz systems.