Synchronization of globally coupled oscillators without symmetry in the distribution of natural frequencies

TL;DR

This paper investigates how asymmetry in the natural frequency distribution of globally coupled oscillators affects their synchronization behavior and traveling wave velocity.

Contribution

It reveals the impact of asymmetry on synchronization and identifies the velocity dependence on distribution properties at different coupling strengths.

Findings

Velocity of the traveling wave depends on asymmetry in natural frequencies.

At large coupling, the velocity equals the average natural frequency.

At onset of synchronization, velocity relates to the zero of the Hilbert Transform of the distribution.

Abstract

The collective behavior in a population of globally coupled oscillators with randomly distributed frequencies is studied when the natural frequency distribution does not possess an even symmetry with respect to the average natural frequency of oscillators. We study the special case of absence of symmetry induced by a group of scaling transformations of the continuous distribution of frequencies. When coupling between oscillators is increased beyond a critical threshold favoring spontaneous synchronization, we found that the variation in the velocity of the traveling wave depends on the extent of asymmetry in the natural frequency distribution. In particular for large coupling this velocity is the average natural frequency whereas at the onset of synchronization it corresponds to the frequency where the Hilbert Transform of the frequency distribution vanishes.