Effective reduction of a three-dimensional circadian oscillator model

Abstract

We investigate the dynamics of a three-dimensional system modeling a molecular mechanism for the circadian rhythm in Drosophila. We first prove the existence of a compact attractor in the region with biological meaning. Under the assumption that the dimerization reactions are fast, in this attractor we reduce the three-dimensional system to a simpler two-dimensional system on the persistent normally hyperbolic slow manifold.