# Asymmetry-Induced Synchronization in Oscillator Networks

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a general method for creating asymmetry-induced synchronization in oscillator networks, showing that breaking symmetry by making oscillators nonidentical often stabilizes synchronization in multilayer networks.

## Contribution

It presents the first general scheme for AISync systems and demonstrates that AISync is prevalent in multilayer physical networks.

## Key findings

- AISync is common in multilayer networks.
- Breaking symmetry stabilizes synchronization.
- AISync facilitates cluster synchronization.

## Abstract

A scenario has recently been reported in which in order to stabilize complete synchronization of an oscillator network---a symmetric state---the symmetry of the system itself has to be broken by making the oscillators nonidentical. But how often does such behavior---which we term asymmetry-induced synchronization (AISync)---occur in oscillator networks? Here we present the first general scheme for constructing AISync systems and demonstrate that this behavior is the norm rather than the exception in a wide class of physical systems that can be seen as multilayer networks. Since a symmetric network in complete synchrony is the basic building block of cluster synchronization in more general networks, AISync should be common also in facilitating cluster synchronization by breaking the symmetry of the cluster subnetworks.