The asymptotic behavior of the order parameter for the infinite-N Kuramoto model

The Kuramoto model, first proposed in 1975, consists of a population of sinusoidally coupled oscillators with random natural frequencies. It has served as an idealized model for coupled oscillator systems in physics, chemistry, and biology. This paper addresses a long-standing problem about the infinite-N Kuramoto model, which is to describe the asymptotic behavior of the order parameter for this system. For coupling below a critical level, Kuramoto predicted that the order parameter would decay to 0. We use Fourier transform methods to prove that for general initial conditions, this decay is not exponential; in fact, exponential decay to 0 can only occur if the initial condition satisfies a fairly strong regularity condition that we describe. Our theorem is a partial converse to the recent results of Ott and Antonsen, who proved that for a special class of initial conditions, the order parameter does converge exponentially to its limiting value. Consequently, our result shows that the Ott-Antonsen ansatz does not completely capture all the possible asymptotic behavior in the full Kuramoto system.