Arithmetic of the sync basin for pulse-coupled oscillato

Abstract

A population of $N$ identical pulse-coupled oscillators ultimately settles into one of two outcomes: full synchrony or a state of co-existing synchronized clusters. We show that which outcome occurs is controlled by the prime factorization of $N$. At the critical charging curve --- linear, the boundary between the synchronizing and clustering regimes --- the synchronization basin acquires exact arithmetic structure. The synchronization probability is $\Psync=A_{N,1}/N^N$ for all $N$, where $A_{N,1}$ satisfies an exact recurrence relation. For prime $N$, $A_{N,1}=N^N-1$ giving the closed form $\Psync=1-1/N^N$; for composite $N$, the observed asymptotic scaling is $1-\Psync\sim C_m N^{-(m-1)}$, where $m$ is the smallest prime divisor. The result adds a new member to the atlas of exotic basin geometries: alongside fractal, riddled, and tentacled basins, we now have a basin that is arithmetic.