Perturbation Analysis of Complete Synchronization in Networks of Phase Oscillators

TL;DR

This paper develops a perturbation theory for Kuramoto oscillators on networks, analyzing how network topology influences synchronization frequency and providing methods for network structural analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a first and second order perturbation approach to quantify the impact of network structure on synchronization in nonidentical oscillators.

Findings

Eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the Laplacian influence synchronization frequency.

Expected synchronization frequencies are derived for scale-free and Erdős-Rényi networks.

Second order perturbation aids in network structural analysis.

Abstract

The behavior of weakly coupled self-sustained oscillators can often be well described by phase equations. Here we use the paradigm of Kuramoto phase oscillators which are coupled in a network to calculate first and second order corrections to the frequency of the fully synchronized state for nonidentical oscillators. The topology of the underlying coupling network is reflected in the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the network Laplacian which influence the synchronization frequency in a particular way. They characterize the importance of nodes in a network and the relations between them. Expected values for the synchronization frequency are obtained for oscillators with quenched random frequencies on a class of scale-free random networks and for a Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi random network. We briefly discuss an application of the perturbation theory in the second order to network structural analysis.