Conley index methods detecting bifurcations in a modified van der Pol oscillator appearing in heart action models

In this paper, a modified van der Pol oscillator equation is considered which appears in several heart action models. We study its global dynamics and verify many interesting bifurcations such as a Hopf bifurcation, a heteroclinic saddle connection, and a homoclinic saddle connection. Some of these bifurcations are detected by using Conley index methods. We demonstrate how the study of connection matrices and transition matrices shows how to select interesting parameter values for simulations.