Random heterogeneity outperforms design in network synchronization

Abstract

A widely held assumption on network dynamics is that similar components are more likely to exhibit similar behavior than dissimilar ones and that generic differences among them are necessarily detrimental to synchronization. Here, we show that this assumption does not generally hold in oscillator networks when communication delays are present. We demonstrate, in particular, that random parameter heterogeneity among oscillators can consistently rescue the system from losing synchrony. This finding is supported by electrochemical-oscillator experiments performed on a multi-electrode array network. Remarkably, at intermediate levels of heterogeneity, random mismatches are more effective in promoting synchronization than parameter assignments specifically designed to facilitate identical synchronization. Our results suggest that, rather than being eliminated or ignored, intrinsic disorder in technological and biological systems can be harnessed to help maintain coherence required for function.

published version

References in corpus (11)

• Synchronization in complex networks
• Many body localization and thermalization in quantum statistical mechanics
• Zero-lag long-range synchronization via dynamical relaying
• Synchronization is optimal in non-diagonalizable networks
• Diversity-induced resonance
• Noise-Induced Synchronization and Clustering in Ensembles of Uncoupled Limit-Cycle Oscillators
• Master Stability Functions for Coupled Near-Identical Dynamical Systems
• Symmetric States Requiring System Asymmetry
• Noise-Induced Synchronization of a Large Population of Globally Coupled Nonidentical Oscillators
• Asymmetry-Induced Synchronization in Oscillator Networks
• Identical synchronization of nonidentical oscillators: when only birds of different feathers flock together