https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2014-02295-6
Regular Article
The role of intermediaries in the synchronization of pulse-coupled oscillators
1 Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Iguá 4225, Montevideo, Uruguay
2 Institute for Complex Systems and Mathematical Biology, University of Aberdeen, King's College, AB24 3UE Aberdeen, UK
a e-mail: cecilia@fisica.edu.uy
Received: 26 May 2014
Revised: 17 October 2014
Published online: 10 December 2014
The role of intermediaries in the synchronization of small groups of light controlled oscillators (LCO) is addressed. A single LCO is a two-time-scale phase oscillator. When pulse-coupling two LCOs, the synchronization time decreases monotonously as the coupling strength increases, independent of the initial conditions and frequency detuning. In this work we study numerically the effects that a third LCO induces to the collective behavior of the system. We analyze the new system by dealing with directed heterogeneous couplings among the units. We report a novel and robust phenomenon, absent when coupling two LCOs, which consists of a discontinuous relationship between the synchronization time and coupling strength or initial conditions. The mechanism responsible for the appearance of such discontinuities is discussed.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2014
