Stochastic synchronization induced by noise
arXiv:2108.13172 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.106.044207
Abstract
Random perturbations applied in tandem to an ensemble of oscillating objects can synchronize their motion. We study multiple copies of an arbitrary dynamical system in a stable limit cycle, described via a standard phase reduction picture. The copies differ only in their arbitrary phases . Weak, randomly-timed external impulses applied to all the copies can synchronize these phases over time. Beyond a threshold strength there is no such convergence to a common phase. Instead, the synchronization becomes erratic: successive impulses produce stochastic fluctuations in the phase distribution , ranging from near-perfect to near-random synchronization. Here we show that the sampled entropies of these phase distributions themselves form a steady-state ensemble, whose average can be made arbitrarily negative by tuning the impulse strength. A random-walk description of the entropy's evolution accounts for the observed exponential distribution of entropies and for the stochastic synchronization phenomenon.
10 pages, 6 figures. v4 makes several small revisions for clarity