Connecting minimal chimeras and fully asymmetric chaotic attractors through equivariant pitchfork bifurcations

Abstract

Highly symmetric networks can exhibit partly symmetry-broken states, including clusters and chimera states, i.e., states of coexisting synchronized and unsynchronized elements. We address the ${\mathbb{S}}_4$ permutation symmetry of four globally coupled Stuart-Landau oscillators and uncover an interconnected web of differently symmetric solutions. Among these are chaotic $2-1-1$ minimal chimeras that arise from $2-1-1$ periodic solutions in a period-doubling cascade, as well as fully asymmetric chaotic states arising similarly from periodic $1-1-1-1$ solutions. A backbone of equivariant pitchfork bifurcations mediate between the two cascades, culminating in equivariant pitchforks of chaotic attractors.

5 pages, 2 figures + Supplementary Information 3 pages, 2 figures