Synchronization of extended systems from internal coherence

Abstract

A condition for the synchronizability of a pair of PDE systems, coupled through a finite set of variables, is commonly the existence of internal synchronization or internal coherence in each system separately. The condition was previously illustrated in a forced-dissipative system, and is here extended to Hamiltonian systems, using an example from particle physics. Full synchronization is precluded by Liouville's theorem. A form of synchronization weaker than "measure synchronization" is manifest as the positional coincidence of coherent oscillations ("breathers" or "oscillons") in a pair of coupled scalar field models in an expanding universe with a nonlinear potential, and does not occur with a variant of the model that does not exhibit oscillons.Comment: version accepted for publication in PRE (paragraph beginning at the bottom of pg. 5 has been rewritten to suggest unifying principle for synchronizability, applying to both forced-dissipative and Hamiltonian systems; other minor changes