Regulating dynamics through intermittent interactions

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates an experimental method to control the behavior of coupled nonlinear oscillators by intermittently modulating their interactions, enabling precise regulation from fixed points to chaos.

Contribution

It introduces a novel scheme using intermittent interactions with two parameters to regulate oscillator dynamics, validated through experiments and simulations.

Findings

Intermittent interaction alters oscillator dynamics predictably.

Adjusting parameters $ au$ and $ au$ controls from fixed points to chaos.

Experimental validation with coupled Chua's circuits confirms the scheme's effectiveness.

Abstract

In this letter, we experimentally demonstrate an efficient scheme to regulate the behaviour of coupled nonlinear oscillators through dynamic control of their interaction. It is observed that introducing intermittency in the interaction term as a function of time or the system state, predictably alters the dynamics of the constituent oscillators. Choosing the nature of the interaction - attractive or repulsive, allows for either suppression of oscillations or stimulation of activity. Two parameters $\Delta$ and $\tau$, that reign the extent of interaction among subsystems are introduced. They serve as a harness to access the entire range of possible behaviours from fixed points to chaos. For fixed values of system parameters and coupling strength, changing $\Delta$ and $\tau$ offers fine control over the dynamics of coupled subsystems. We show this experimentally using coupled Chua's circuits and elucidate their behaviour for a range of coupling parameters through detailed numerical simulations.