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Triggering synchronized oscillations through arbitrarily weak diversity in close-to-threshold excitable media
C Degli Esposti Boschi1, E Louis, G Ortega
1Departamento de Física Aplicada and Unidad Asociada of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Universidad de Alicante, Apartado 99, E-03080 Alicante, Spain.
Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics
|January 22, 2002
Summary
Weak heterogeneity can cause synchronized oscillations in excitable media. This finding holds true even with internal dynamical noise, demonstrating robustness in coupled oscillator networks.
Area of Science:
- * Complex systems dynamics
- * Nonlinear physics
- * Network science
Background:
- * Excitable media exhibit complex behaviors, including oscillations.
- * Heterogeneity can significantly alter the dynamics of such media.
- * Understanding synchronization phenomena is crucial in various scientific fields.
Purpose of the Study:
- * To investigate the effect of weak heterogeneity on synchronized oscillations in excitable media.
- * To determine the robustness of induced synchronization against internal noise.
- * To analyze synchronization in networks of coupled van der Pol-FitzHugh-Nagumo oscillators.
Main Methods:
- * Modeling excitable media using coupled van der Pol-FitzHugh-Nagumo oscillators.
- * Introducing weak, frozen heterogeneity into the network structure.
- * Analyzing system behavior near the oscillation threshold and in the presence of dynamical noise.
Main Results:
- * Arbitrarily weak heterogeneity can induce global synchronized oscillations.
- * Synchronization occurs in systems close to the oscillation threshold.
- * The observed synchronization is robust against internal dynamical noise.
Conclusions:
- * Weak heterogeneity is a sufficient condition to induce global synchronization in these systems.
- * The phenomenon is stable and not easily disrupted by noise.
- * This highlights a fundamental mechanism for emergent order in complex networks.
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