Higher order interactions in complex networks of phase oscillators promote abrupt synchronization switching

Synchronization processes play critical roles in the functionality of a wide range of both natural and man-made systems. Recent work in physics and neuroscience highlights the importance of higher-order interactions between dynamical units, i.e., three- and four-way interactions in addition to pairw...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Communications physics 2020-11, Vol.3 (1), Article 218
Main Authors: Skardal, Per Sebastian, Arenas, Alex
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/705/1041
639/766/530/2801
639/766/530/2803
Bistability
Incoherence
Oscillators
Phase transitions
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Switching
Synchronism
System dynamics
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Synchronization processes play critical roles in the functionality of a wide range of both natural and man-made systems. Recent work in physics and neuroscience highlights the importance of higher-order interactions between dynamical units, i.e., three- and four-way interactions in addition to pairwise interactions, and their role in shaping collective behavior. Here we show that higher-order interactions between coupled phase oscillators, encoded microscopically in a simplicial complex, give rise to added nonlinearity in the macroscopic system dynamics that induces abrupt synchronization transitions via hysteresis and bistability of synchronized and incoherent states. Moreover, these higher-order interactions can stabilize strongly synchronized states even when the pairwise coupling is repulsive. These findings reveal a self-organized phenomenon that may be responsible for the rapid switching to synchronization in many biological and other systems that exhibit synchronization without the need of particular correlation mechanisms between the oscillators and the topological structure. While first order phase transitions between incoherence and synchronization are critical for collective behavior in various oscillator system application, e.g., the brain and power grids, such transitions typically require finely tuned properties. In this work the authors show that first order phase transitions and bistability can emerge naturally as a consequence of the presence of higher-order interactions between oscillators.
ISSN:2399-3650
2399-3650
DOI:10.1038/s42005-020-00485-0