Transition to period-3 synchronized state in coupled gauss maps

We study coupled Gauss maps in one dimension with nearest-neighbor interactions. We observe transitions from spatiotemporal chaos to period-3 states in a coarse-grained sense and synchronized period-3 states. Synchronized fixed points are frequently observed in one dimension. However, synchronized periodic states are rare. The obvious reason is that it is very easy to create defects in one dimension. We characterize all transitions using the following order parameter. Let x∗ be the fixed point of the map. The values above (below) x∗ are classified as +1 (-1) spins. We expect all sites to return to the same band after three time steps for a coarse-grained periodic or three-period state. We define the flip rate F(t) as the fraction of sites i such that si(3t-3)≠si(t). It is zero in the coarse-grained periodic state. This state may or may not be synchronized. We observe three different transitions. (a) If different sites reach different bands, the transition is in the directed-percolation universality class. (b) If all sites reach the same band, we find an Ising-type transition. (c) A synchronized period-3 state where a new exponent is observed. We also study the finite-size scaling at critical points. The exponents obtained indicate that the synchronized period-3 transition is in a new universality class.