Transient Uncoupling Induces Synchronization

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel transient uncoupling scheme that enables synchronization of chaotic systems over an infinite range of coupling strengths, even when full coupling fails to synchronize.

Contribution

The study presents a new method of transient uncoupling that induces synchronization in chaotic systems without the need for adjustable coupling parameters.

Findings

Transient uncoupling achieves synchronization where full coupling does not.

Synchronization occurs over an infinite range of coupling strengths.

The scheme can be applied to biological and technical systems with fixed parameters.

Abstract

Finding conditions that support synchronization is a fertile and active area of research with applications across multiple disciplines. Here we present and analyze a scheme for synchronizing chaotic dynamical systems by transiently uncoupling them. Specifically, systems coupled only in a fraction of their state space may synchronize even if fully coupled they do not. Although, for many standard systems, coupling strengths need to be bounded to ensure synchrony, transient uncoupling removes this bound and thus enables synchronization in an infinite range of effective coupling strengths. The presented coupling scheme thus opens up the possibility to induce synchrony in (biological or technical) systems whose parameters are fixed and cannot be modified continuously.