Onset of synchronization in networks of second-order Kuramoto oscillators with delayed coupling: Exact results and application to phase-locked loops

We consider the inertial Kuramoto model of $N$ globally coupled oscillators characterized by both their phase and angular velocity, in which there is a time delay in the interaction between the oscillators. Besides the academic interest, we show that the model can be related to a network of phase-locked loops widely used in electronic circuits for generating a stable frequency at multiples of an input frequency. We study the model for a generic choice of the natural frequency distribution of the oscillators, to elucidate how a synchronized phase bifurcates from an incoherent phase as the coupling constant between the oscillators is tuned. We show that in contrast to the case with no delay, here the system in the stationary state may exhibit either a subcritical or a supercritical bifurcation between a synchronized and an incoherent phase, which is dictated by the value of the delay present in the interaction and the precise value of inertia of the oscillators. Our theoretical analysis, performed in the limit $N \to \infty$, is based on an unstable manifold expansion in the vicinity of the bifurcation, which we apply to the kinetic equation satisfied by the single-oscillator distribution function. We check our results by performing direct numerical integration of the dynamics for large $N$, and highlight the subtleties arising from having a finite number of oscillators.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures; v2: 16 pages, 5 figures, published versio

Canard explosion in delayed equations with multiple timescales

We analyze canard explosions in delayed differential equations with a one-dimensional slow manifold. This study is applied to explore the dynamics of the van der Pol slow-fast system with delayed self-coupling. In the absence of delays, this system provides a canonical example of a canard explosion. We show that as the delay is increased a family of `classical' canard explosions ends as a Bogdanov-Takens bifurcation occurs at the folds points of the S-shaped critical manifold.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1404.584