Exact Results for the Kuramoto Model with a Bimodal Frequency Distribution

We analyze a large system of globally coupled phase oscillators whose natural frequencies are bimodally distributed. The dynamics of this system has been the subject of long-standing interest. In 1984 Kuramoto proposed several conjectures about its behavior; ten years later, Crawford obtained the first analytical results by means of a local center manifold calculation. Nevertheless, many questions have remained open, especially about the possibility of global bifurcations. Here we derive the system's complete stability diagram for the special case where the bimodal distribution consists of two equally weighted Lorentzians. Using an ansatz recently discovered by Ott and Antonsen, we show that in this case the infinite-dimensional problem reduces exactly to a flow in four dimensions. Depending on the parameters and initial conditions, the long-term dynamics evolves to one of three states: incoherence, where all the oscillators are desynchronized; partial synchrony, where a macroscopic group of phase-locked oscillators coexists with a sea of desynchronized ones; and a standing wave state, where two counter-rotating groups of phase-locked oscillators emerge. Analytical results are presented for the bifurcation boundaries between these states. Similar results are also obtained for the case in which the bimodal distribution is given by the sum of two Gaussians.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figures; submitted to Phys. Rev. E Added comment

Existence of hysteresis in the Kuramoto model with bimodal frequency distributions

We investigate the transition to synchronization in the Kuramoto model with bimodal distributions of the natural frequencies. Previous studies have concluded that the model exhibits a hysteretic phase transition if the bimodal distribution is close to a unimodal one, due to the shallowness the central dip. Here we show that proximity to the unimodal-bimodal border does not necessarily imply hysteresis when the width, but not the depth, of the central dip tends to zero. We draw this conclusion from a detailed study of the Kuramoto model with a suitable family of bimodal distributions.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Physical Review

Bifurcations of piecewise smooth flows:perspectives, methodologies and open problems

In this paper, the theory of bifurcations in piecewise smooth flows is critically surveyed. The focus is on results that hold in arbitrarily (but finitely) many dimensions, highlighting significant areas where a detailed understanding is presently lacking. The clearest results to date concern equilibria undergoing bifurcations at switching boundaries, and limit cycles undergoing grazing and sliding bifurcations. After discussing fundamental concepts, such as topological equivalence of two piecewise smooth systems, discontinuity-induced bifurcations are defined for equilibria and limit cycles. Conditions for equilibria to exist in n-dimensions are given, followed by the conditions under which they generically undergo codimension-one bifurcations. The extent of knowledge of their unfoldings is also summarized. Codimension-one bifurcations of limit cycles and boundary-intersection crossing are described together with techniques for their classification. Codimension-two bifurcations are discussed with suggestions for further study

On the existence of hysteresis in the Kuramoto model with bimodal frequency distributions

We investigate the transition to synchronization in the Kuramoto model with bimodal distributions of the natural frequencies. Previous studies have concluded that the model exhibits a hysteretic phase transition if the bimodal distribution is close to a unimodal one, due to the shallowness the central dip. Here we show that proximity to the unimodal-bimodal border does not necessarily imply hysteresis when the width, but not the depth, of the central dip tends to zero. We draw this conclusion from a detailed study of the Kuramoto model with a suitable family of bimodal distributions

Integrability, localisation and bifurcation of an elastic conducting rod in a uniform magnetic field

The classical problem of the buckling of an elastic rod in a magnetic ¯eld is investigated using modern techniques from dynamical systems theory. The Kirchhoff equations, which describe the static equilibrium equations of a geometrically exact rod under end tension and moment are extended by incorporating the evolution of a fixed external vector (in the direction of the magnetic field) that interacts with the rod via a Lorentz force. The static equilibrium equations (in body cordinates) are found to be noncanonical Hamiltonian equations. The Poisson bracket is generalised and the equilibrium equations found to sit, as the third member, in a family of rod equations in generalised magnetic fields. When the rod is linearly elastic, isotropic, inextensible and unshearable the equations are completely integrable and can be generated by a Lax pair. The isotropic system is reduced using the Casimirs, via the Euler angles, to a four-dimensional canonical system with a first integral provided the magnetic field is not aligned with the force within the rod at any point as the system losses rank. An energy surface is specified, defning three-dimensional flows. Poincare sections then show closed curves. Through Mel'nikov analysis it is shown that for an extensible rod the presence of a magnetic field leads to the transverse intersection of the stable and unstable manifolds and the loss of complete integrability. Consequently, the system admits spatially chaotic solutions and a multiplicity of multimodal homoclinic solutions exist. Poincare sections associated with the loss of integrability are displayed. Homoclinic solutions are computed and post-buckling paths found using continutaion methods. The rods buckle in a Hamiltonian-Hopf bifurcation about a periodic solution. A codimension-two point, which describes a double Hamiltonian-Hopf bifurcation, determines whether straight rods buckle into localised configurations at either two critical values of the magnetic field, a single critical value or do not buckle at all. The codimension-two point is found to be an organising centre for primary and multimodal solutions

First-order phase transitions in the Kuramoto model with compact bimodal frequency distributions

The Kuramoto model of a network of coupled phase oscillators exhibits a first-order phase transition when the distribution of natural frequencies has a finite flat region at its maximum. First-order phase transitions including hysteresis and bistability are also present if the frequency distribution of a single network is bimodal. In this study, we are interested in the interplay of these two configurations and analyze the Kuramoto model with compact bimodal frequency distributions in the continuum limit. As of yet, a rigorous analytic treatment has been elusive. By combining Kuramoto's self-consistency approach, Crawford's symmetry considerations, and exploiting the Ott-Antonsen ansatz applied to a family of rational distribution functions that converge towards the compact distribution, we derive a full bifurcation diagram for the system's order-parameter dynamics. We show that the route to synchronization always passes through a standing wave regime when the bimodal distribution is compounded by two unimodal distributions with compact support. This is in contrast to a possible transition across a region of bistability when the two compounding unimodal distributions have infinite support

Bifurcation analysis of a paradigmatic model of monsoon prediction

International audienceLocal and global bifurcation structure of the forced Lorenz model in the r-F plane is investigated. The forced Lorenz model is a conceptual model for understanding the influence of the slowly varying boundary forcing like Sea Surface Temperature (SST) on the Indian summer monsoon rainfall variability. Shift in the probability density function between the two branches of the Lorenz attractor as a function of SST forcing is calculated. It is found that the one-dimensional return map (cusp map) splits into two cusps on introduction of forcing

Noise-induced synchronization and anti-resonance in excitable systems; Implications for information processing in Parkinson's Disease and Deep Brain Stimulation

We study the statistical physics of a surprising phenomenon arising in large networks of excitable elements in response to noise: while at low noise, solutions remain in the vicinity of the resting state and large-noise solutions show asynchronous activity, the network displays orderly, perfectly synchronized periodic responses at intermediate level of noise. We show that this phenomenon is fundamentally stochastic and collective in nature. Indeed, for noise and coupling within specific ranges, an asymmetry in the transition rates between a resting and an excited regime progressively builds up, leading to an increase in the fraction of excited neurons eventually triggering a chain reaction associated with a macroscopic synchronized excursion and a collective return to rest where this process starts afresh, thus yielding the observed periodic synchronized oscillations. We further uncover a novel anti-resonance phenomenon: noise-induced synchronized oscillations disappear when the system is driven by periodic stimulation with frequency within a specific range. In that anti-resonance regime, the system is optimal for measures of information capacity. This observation provides a new hypothesis accounting for the efficiency of Deep Brain Stimulation therapies in Parkinson's disease, a neurodegenerative disease characterized by an increased synchronization of brain motor circuits. We further discuss the universality of these phenomena in the class of stochastic networks of excitable elements with confining coupling, and illustrate this universality by analyzing various classical models of neuronal networks. Altogether, these results uncover some universal mechanisms supporting a regularizing impact of noise in excitable systems, reveal a novel anti-resonance phenomenon in these systems, and propose a new hypothesis for the efficiency of high-frequency stimulation in Parkinson's disease

Amplitude Expansions for Instabilities in Populations of Globally-Coupled Oscillators

We analyze the nonlinear dynamics near the incoherent state in a mean-field model of coupled oscillators. The population is described by a Fokker-Planck equation for the distribution of phases, and we apply center-manifold reduction to obtain the amplitude equations for steady-state and Hopf bifurcation from the equilibrium state with a uniform phase distribution. When the population is described by a native frequency distribution that is reflection-symmetric about zero, the problem has circular symmetry. In the limit of zero extrinsic noise, although the critical eigenvalues are embedded in the continuous spectrum, the nonlinear coefficients in the amplitude equation remain finite in contrast to the singular behavior found in similar instabilities described by the Vlasov-Poisson equation. For a bimodal reflection-symmetric distribution, both types of bifurcation are possible and they coincide at a codimension-two Takens Bogdanov point. The steady-state bifurcation may be supercritical or subcritical and produces a time-independent synchronized state. The Hopf bifurcation produces both supercritical stable standing waves and supercritical unstable travelling waves. Previous work on the Hopf bifurcation in a bimodal population by Bonilla, Neu, and Spigler and Okuda and Kuramoto predicted stable travelling waves and stable standing waves, respectively. A comparison to these previous calculations shows that the prediction of stable travelling waves results from a failure to include all unstable modes.Comment: 46 pages (Latex), 4 figures available in hard copy from the author ([email protected]); paper submitted to the Journal of Statistical Physic