Chimera states on the surface of a sphere

TL;DR

This paper investigates chimera states, which are patterns of coexisting synchronized and desynchronized oscillations, on the surface of a sphere, revealing the coexistence and stability regions of spot and spiral chimeras.

Contribution

It introduces the study of chimera states on spherical surfaces, analyzing their formation, stability, and coexistence of spots and spirals in a unified system.

Findings

Spiral and spot chimeras coexist on the sphere.

Spiral chimeras have distinct birth and death processes.

Stable regions for each chimera type are identified in parameter space.

Abstract

A chimera state is a spatiotemporal pattern in which a network of identical coupled oscillators exhibits coexisting regions of asynchronous and synchronous oscillation. Two distinct classes of chimera states have been shown to exist: "spots" and "spirals." Here we study coupled oscillators on the surface of a sphere, a single system in which both spot and spiral chimera states appear. We present an analysis of the birth and death of spiral chimera states and show that although they coexist with spot chimeras, they are stable in disjoint regions of parameter space.