  Sensitivity to initial conditions is usually associated with chaotic dynamics
and strange attractors. However, even systems with (quasi)periodic dynamics can
exhibit it. In this context we report on the fractal properties of the
isochrons of some continuous-time asymptotically periodic systems. We define a
global measure of phase sensitivity that we call the phase sensitivity
coefficient and show that it is an invariant of the system related to the
capacity dimension of the isochrons. Similar results are also obtained with
discrete-time systems. As an illustration of the framework, we compute the
phase sensitivity coefficient for popular models of bursting neurons,
suggesting that some elliptic bursting neurons are characterized by isochrons
of high fractal dimensions and exhibit a very sensitive (unreliable) phase
response.
