Intermittent chaotic chimeras for coupled rotators

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of intermittent chaotic chimeras in coupled oscillator populations with inertia, showing complex dynamics and divergence of life-times with system size, supported by Lyapunov analysis.

Contribution

It provides the first evidence of intermittent chaotic chimeras in coupled rotators with inertia, linking experimental observations to theoretical models.

Findings

Intermittent chaotic chimeras exhibit finite life-times diverging with system size and inertia.

Chaotic properties align with theoretical predictions for globally coupled dissipative systems.

States show one population synchronized while the other alternates between laminar and turbulent phases.

Abstract

Two symmetrically coupled populations of N oscillators with inertia $m$ display chaotic solutions with broken symmetry similar to experimental observations with mechanical pendula. In particular, we report the first evidence of intermittent chaotic chimeras, where one population is synchronized and the other jumps erratically between laminar and turbulent phases. These states have finite life-times diverging as a power-law with N and m. Lyapunov analyses reveal chaotic properties in quantitative agreement with theoretical predictions for globally coupled dissipative systems.