Non-linear oscillators with Kuramoto-like local coupling: Complexity analysis and spatiotemporal pattern generation

TL;DR

This paper investigates a ring of identical oscillators with local Kuramoto-like coupling, revealing complex spatiotemporal patterns similar to cellular automata and exploring their potential for computation at the edge of chaos.

Contribution

It analyzes the complexity of a novel oscillator model, identifying regions with cellular automata-like behavior and hierarchical structures, highlighting potential computational capabilities.

Findings

Identification of complex regions with cellular automata-like patterns

Emergence of hierarchical community structures in complex dynamics

Potential for computation at the edge of chaos

Abstract

Can a simple oscillator system, as in cellular automata, sustain complex nature upon discretization in time and space? The answer is by no means trivial as even the most simple, two-state, nearest neighbours cellular automata can lead to Universal Turing Machine (UTM) computing power. This study analyses a recently proposed model consisting of a ring of identical excitable Adler-type oscillators with local Kuramoto-like coupling in terms of its complexity. Regions with non-trivial, complex behaviour have been identified, where spatiotemporal maps closely resemble those found in elementary cellular automata, not only from the visual perspective but also from entropic measures characterization. Also, the possibility of enhanced computation at the edge of chaos is explored by monitoring the effective complexity measure, entropy density and informational distance, following previous approaches. Distance matrix, and the corresponding dendrograms, show that in the complex regions, a non-trivial set of hierarchies emerges where local communities can appear and sustain themself in time. The fact that coupled oscillators can be realized through dedicated electronic circuitry or the result of natural processes can make finding such complex dynamics, with potential computational power, an important one in a broad scope of applications and implications.