Synchronized states in chaotic systems coupled indirectly through a dynamic environment

Dominant Attractor in Coupled Non-Identical Chaotic Systems

The dynamical interplay of coupled non-identical chaotic oscillators gives rise to diverse scenarios. The incoherent dynamics of these oscillators lead to the structural impairment of attractors in phase space. This paper investigates the couplings of Lorenz-Rössler, Lorenz-HR, and Rössler-HR to identify the dominant attractor. By dominant attractor, we mean the attractor that is less changed by coupling. For comparison and similarity detection, a cost function based on the return map of the coupled systems is used. The possible effects of frequency and amplitude differences between the systems on the results are also examined. Finally, the inherent chaotic characteristic of systems is compared by computing the largest Lyapunov exponent. The results suggest that in each coupling case, the attractor with the greater largest Lyapunov exponent is dominant.

Effects of propagation delay in coupled oscillators under direct-indirect coupling: Theory and experiment

Propagation delay arises in a coupling channel due to the finite propagation speed of signals and the dispersive nature of the channel. In this paper, we study the effects of propagation delay that appears in the indirect coupling path of direct (diffusive)-indirect (environmental) coupled oscillators. In sharp contrast to the direct coupled oscillators where propagation delay induces amplitude death, we show that in the case of direct-indirect coupling, even a small propagation delay is conducive to an oscillatory behavior. It is well known that simultaneous application of direct and indirect coupling is the general mechanism for amplitude death. However, here we show that the presence of propagation delay hinders the death state and helps the revival of oscillation. We demonstrate our results by considering chaotic time-delayed oscillators and FitzHugh-Nagumo oscillators. We use linear stability analysis to derive the explicit conditions for the onset of oscillation from the death state. We also verify the robustness of our results in an electronic hardware level experiment. Our study reveals that the effect of time delay on the dynamics of coupled oscillators is coupling function dependent and, therefore, highly non-trivial.

Controlling chimera states in chaotic oscillator ensembles through linear augmentation

In this work, we show how "chimera states," namely, the dynamical situation when synchronized and desynchronized domains coexist in an oscillator ensemble, can be controlled through a linear augmentation (LA) technique. Specifically, in the networks of coupled chaotic oscillators, we obtain chimera states through induced multistability and demonstrate how LA can be used to control the size and spatial location of the incoherent and coherent populations in the ensemble. We examine basins of attraction of the system to analyze the effects of LA on its multistable behavior and thus on chimera states. Stability of the synchronized dynamics is analyzed through a master stability function. We find that these results are independent of a system's initial conditions and the strategy is applicable to the networks of globally, locally as well as nonlocally coupled oscillators. Our results suggest that LA control can be an effective method to control chimera states and to realize a desired collective dynamics in such ensembles.

Achieving criticality for reservoir computing using environment-induced explosive death

The network of oscillators coupled via a common environment has been widely studied due to its great abundance in nature. We exploit the occurrence of explosive oscillation quenching in a network of non-identical oscillators coupled to each other indirectly via an environment for efficient reservoir computing. At the very edge of explosive transition, the reservoir achieves criticality maximizing its information processing capacity. The efficiency of the reservoir at different configurations is determined by the computational accuracy for different tasks performed by it. We analyze the dependence of accuracy on the dynamical behavior of the reservoir in terms of an order parameter symbolizing the desynchronization of the system. We found that the reservoir achieves the criticality in the steady-state region right at the edge of the hysteresis area. By computing the entropy of the reservoir for different tasks, we confirm that maximum accuracy corresponds to the edge of chaos or the edge of stability for this reservoir.

Symmetry breakings in two populations of oscillators coupled via diffusive environments: Chimera and heterosynchrony

We consider two diffusively coupled populations of identical oscillators, where the oscillators in each population are coupled with a common dynamic environment. Existence and stability of a variety of stationary states are analyzed on the basis of the Ott-Antonsen reduction method, which reveals that the chimera state occurs under the diffusive coupling scheme. Furthermore, we find an exotic symmetry-breaking behavior, the so-called the heterosynchronous state, in which each population exhibits in-phase coherence, while the order parameters of two populations rotate at different phase velocities. The chimera and heterosynchronous states emerge from bistabilities of distinct states for decoupled population and occur as a unique continuation for weak diffusive couplings. The heterosynchronous state is caused by an indirect coupling scheme via dynamic environments and could occur for a finite-size system as well, even for the system that consists of one oscillator per population.

Synchronization of active rotators interacting with environment

Multiple organs in a living system respond to environmental changes, and the signals from the organs regulate the physiological environment. Inspired by this biological feedback, we propose a simple autonomous system of active rotators to explain how multiple units are synchronized under a fluctuating environment. We find that the feedback via an environment can entrain rotators to have synchronous phases for specific conditions. This mechanism is markedly different from the simple entrainment by a common oscillatory external stimulus that is not interacting with systems. We theoretically examine how the phase synchronization depends on the interaction strength between rotators and environment. Furthermore, we successfully demonstrate the proposed model by realizing an analog electric circuit with microelectronic devices. This bioinspired platform can be used as a sensor for monitoring varying environments and as a controller for amplifying signals by their feedback-induced synchronization.

Oscillatory activity regulation in an ensemble of autonomous mercury beating heart oscillators

Collective behavior of an ensemble of directly or indirectly coupled oscillators can be a function of population density. Experiments using autonomous mercury beating heart (MBH) oscillators coupled through their surroundings are employed, to study the existence of quorum-like (population dependent) phenomena. Two coupling mechanisms are used, namely, static and dynamic coupling. For the static coupling scheme, the transitions of a subset of the coupled oscillators occur from active (oscillatory) to inactive (quiescent) state and vice versa. A continuous variation of collective dynamics was observed as the population of the oscillators increased. For the dynamic coupling scheme, the time for which the coupled oscillators are active changes sharply as the population increases beyond a certain threshold.

Oscillation death and revival by coupling with damped harmonic oscillator

Dynamics of nonlinear oscillators augmented with co- and counter-rotating linear damped harmonic oscillator is studied in detail. Depending upon the sense of rotation of augmenting system, the collective dynamics converges to either synchronized periodic behaviour or oscillation death. Multistability is observed when there is a transition from periodic state to oscillation death. In the periodic region, the system is found to be in mixed synchronization state, which is characterized by the newly defined "relative phase angle" between the different axes.

Phase-flip and oscillation-quenching-state transitions through environmental diffusive coupling

We study the dynamics of nonlinear oscillators coupled through environmental diffusive coupling. The interaction between the dynamical systems is maintained through its agents which, in turn, interact globally with each other in the common dynamical environment. We show that this form of coupling scheme can induce an important transition like phase-flip transition as well transitions among oscillation quenching states in identical limit-cycle oscillators. This behavior is analyzed in the parameter plane by analytical and numerical studies of specific cases of the Stuart-Landau oscillator and van der Pol oscillator. Experimental evidences of the phase-flip transition and quenching states are shown using an electronic version of the van der Pol oscillators.

Environmental coupling in ecosystems: From oscillation quenching to rhythmogenesis

How landscape fragmentation affects ecosystems diversity and stability is an important and complex question in ecology with no simple answer, as spatially separated habitats where species live are highly dynamic rather than just static. Taking into account the species dispersal among nearby connected habitats (or patches) through a common dynamic environment, we model the consumer-resource interactions with a ring type coupled network. By characterizing the dynamics of consumer-resource interactions in a coupled ecological system with three fundamental mechanisms such as the interaction within the patch, the interaction between the patches, and the interaction through a common dynamic environment, we report the occurrence of various collective behaviors. We show that the interplay between the dynamic environment and the dispersal among connected patches exhibits the mechanism of generation of oscillations, i.e., rhythmogenesis, as well as suppression of oscillations, i.e., amplitude death and oscillation death. Also, the transition from homogeneous steady state to inhomogeneous steady state occurs through a codimension-2 bifurcation. Emphasizing a network of a spatially extended system, the coupled model exposes the collective behavior of a synchrony-stability relationship with various synchronization occurrences such as in-phase and out-of-phase.

Phase-flip chimera induced by environmental nonlocal coupling

We report the emergence of a collective dynamical state, namely, the phase-flip chimera, from an ensemble of identical nonlinear oscillators that are coupled indirectly via the dynamical variables from a common environment, which in turn are nonlocally coupled. The phase-flip chimera is characterized by the coexistence of two adjacent out-of-phase synchronized coherent domains interspersed by an incoherent domain, in which the nearby oscillators are in out-of-phase synchronized states. Attractors of the coherent domains are either from the same or from different basins of attractions, depending on whether they are periodic or chaotic. The conventional chimera precedes the phase-flip chimera in general. Further, the phase-flip chimera emerges after the completely synchronized evolution of the ensemble, in contrast to conventional chimeras, which emerge as an intermediate state between completely incoherent and coherent states. We have also characterized the observed dynamical transitions using the strength of incoherence, probability distribution of the correlation coefficient, and framework of the master stability function.

Synchronization using environmental coupling in mercury beating heart oscillators

We report synchronization of Mercury Beating Heart (MBH) oscillators using the environmental coupling mechanism. This mechanism involves interaction of the oscillators with a common medium/environment such that the oscillators do not interact among themselves. In the present work, we chose a modified MBH system as the common environment. In the absence of coupling, this modified system does not exhibit self sustained oscillations. It was observed that, as a result of the coupling of the MBH oscillators with this common environment, the electrical and the mechanical activities of both the oscillators synchronized simultaneously. Experimental results indicate the emergence of both lag and the complete synchronization in the MBH oscillators. Simulations of the phase oscillators were carried out in order to better understand the experimental observations.

Quorum-Sensing Synchronization of Synthetic Toggle Switches: A Design Based on Monotone Dynamical Systems Theory

Synthetic constructs in biotechnology, biocomputing, and modern gene therapy interventions are often based on plasmids or transfected circuits which implement some form of “on-off” switch. For example, the expression of a protein used for therapeutic purposes might be triggered by the recognition of a specific combination of inducers (e.g., antigens), and memory of this event should be maintained across a cell population until a specific stimulus commands a coordinated shut-off. The robustness of such a design is hampered by molecular (“intrinsic”) or environmental (“extrinsic”) noise, which may lead to spontaneous changes of state in a subset of the population and is reflected in the bimodality of protein expression, as measured for example using flow cytometry. In this context, a “majority-vote” correction circuit, which brings deviant cells back into the required state, is highly desirable, and quorum-sensing has been suggested as a way for cells to broadcast their states to the population as a whole so as to facilitate consensus. In this paper, we propose what we believe is the first such a design that has mathematically guaranteed properties of stability and auto-correction under certain conditions. Our approach is guided by concepts and theory from the field of “monotone” dynamical systems developed by M. Hirsch, H. Smith, and others. We benchmark our design by comparing it to an existing design which has been the subject of experimental and theoretical studies, illustrating its superiority in stability and self-correction of synchronization errors. Our stability analysis, based on dynamical systems theory, guarantees global convergence to steady states, ruling out unpredictable (“chaotic”) behaviors and even sustained oscillations in the limit of convergence. These results are valid no matter what are the values of parameters, and are based only on the wiring diagram. The theory is complemented by extensive computational bifurcation analysis, performed for a biochemically-detailed and biologically-relevant model that we developed. Another novel feature of our approach is that our theorems on exponential stability of steady states for homogeneous or mixed populations are valid independently of the number N of cells in the population, which is usually very large (N ≫ 1) and unknown. We prove that the exponential stability depends on relative proportions of each type of state only. While monotone systems theory has been used previously for systems biology analysis, the current work illustrates its power for synthetic biology design, and thus has wider significance well beyond the application to the important problem of coordination of toggle switches.

For the last decade, outstanding progress has been made, and considerable practical experience has accumulated, in the construction of elementary genetic circuits that perform various tasks, such as memory storage and logical operations, in response to both exogenous and endogenous stimuli. Using modern molecular “plug-and-play” technologies, various (re-)programmable cellular populations can be engineered, and they can be combined into more complex cellular systems. Among all engineered synthetic circuits, a toggle, a robust bistable switch leading to a binary response dynamics, is the simplest basic synthetic biology device, analogous to the “flip-flop” or latch in electronic design, and it plays a key role in biotechnology, biocomputing, and proposed gene therapies. However, despite many remarkable properties of the existing toggle designs, they must be tightly controlled in order to avoid spontaneous switching between different expression states (loss of long-term memory) or even the breakdown of stability through the generation of stable oscillations. To address this concrete challenge, we have developed a new design for quorum-sensing synthetic toggles, based on monotone dynamical systems theory. Our design is endowed with strong theoretical guarantees that completely exclude unpredictable chaotic behaviors in the limit of convergence, as well as undesired stable oscillations, and leads to robust consensus states.

Synchronization of cells with activator-inhibitor pathways through adaptive environment-mediated coupling

In this paper, we report the synchronized dynamics of cells with activator-inhibitor pathways via an adaptive environment-mediated coupling scheme with feedbacks and control mechanisms. The adaptive character of the extracellular medium is modeled via its damping parameter as a physiological response aiming at annihilating the cellular differentiation existing between the chaotic biochemical pathways of the cells, in order to preserve homeostasis. We perform an investigation on the existence and stability of the synchronization manifold of the coupled system under the proposed coupling pattern. Both mathematical and computational tools suggest the accessibility of conducive prerequisites (conditions) for the emergence of a robust synchronous regime. The relevance of a phase-synchronized dynamics is appraised and several numerical indicators advocate for the prevalence of this fascinating phenomenon among the interacting cells in the phase space.

Linear Augmentation for Stabilizing Stationary Solutions: Potential Pitfalls and Their Application

Linear augmentation has recently been shown to be effective in targeting desired stationary solutions, suppressing bistablity, in regulating the dynamics of drive response systems and in controlling the dynamics of hidden attractors. The simplicity of the procedure is the main highlight of this scheme but questions related to its general applicability still need to be addressed. Focusing on the issue of targeting stationary solutions, this work demonstrates instances where the scheme fails to stabilize the required solutions and leads to other complicated dynamical scenarios. Examples from conservative as well as dissipative systems are presented in this regard and important applications in dissipative predator-prey systems are discussed, which include preventative measures to avoid potentially catastrophic dynamical transitions in these systems.

Mixed-mode oscillation suppression states in coupled oscillators

We report a collective dynamical state, namely the mixed-mode oscillation suppression state where the steady states of the state variables of a system of coupled oscillators show heterogeneous behaviors. We identify two variants of it: The first one is a mixed-mode death (MMD) state, which is an interesting oscillation death state, where a set of variables show dissimilar values, while the rest arrive at a common value. In the second mixed death state, bistable and monostable nontrivial homogeneous steady states appear simultaneously to a different set of variables (we refer to it as the MNAD state). We find these states in the paradigmatic chaotic Lorenz system and Lorenz-like system under generic coupling schemes. We identify that while the reflection symmetry breaking is responsible for the MNAD state, the breaking of both the reflection and translational symmetries result in the MMD state. Using a rigorous bifurcation analysis we establish the occurrence of the MMD and MNAD states, and map their transition routes in parameter space. Moreover, we report experimental observation of the MMD and MNAD states that supports our theoretical results. We believe that this study will broaden our understanding of oscillation suppression states; subsequently, it may have applications in many real physical systems, such as laser and geomagnetic systems, whose mathematical models mimic the Lorenz system.

Oscillation suppression in indirectly coupled limit cycle oscillators

We study the phenomena of oscillation quenching in a system of limit cycle oscillators which are coupled indirectly via a dynamic environment. The dynamics of the environment is assumed to decay exponentially with some decay parameter. We show that for appropriate coupling strength, the decay parameter of the environment plays a crucial role in the emergent dynamics such as amplitude death (AD) and oscillation death (OD). The critical curves for the regions of oscillation quenching as a function of coupling strength and decay parameter of the environment are obtained analytically using linear stability analysis and are found to be consistent with the numerics.

Transitions among the diverse oscillation quenching states induced by the interplay of direct and indirect coupling

We report the transitions among different oscillation quenching states induced by the interplay of diffusive (direct) coupling and environmental (indirect) coupling in coupled identical oscillators. This coupling scheme was introduced by Resmi et al. [Phys. Rev. E 84, 046212 (2011)] as a general scheme to induce amplitude death (AD) in nonlinear oscillators. Using a detailed bifurcation analysis we show that, in addition to AD, which actually occurs only in a small region of parameter space, this coupling scheme can induce other oscillation quenching states, namely oscillation death (OD) and a novel nontrvial AD (NAD) state, which is a nonzero bistable homogeneous steady state; more importantly, this coupling scheme mediates a transition from the AD state to the OD state and a new transition from the AD state to the NAD state. We identify diverse routes to the NAD state and map all the transition scenarios in the parameter space for periodic oscillators. Finally, we present the first experimental evidence of oscillation quenching states and their transitions induced by the interplay of direct and indirect coupling.

Amplitude death and synchronized states in nonlinear time-delay systems coupled through mean-field diffusion

We explore and experimentally demonstrate the phenomena of amplitude death (AD) and the corresponding transitions through synchronized states that lead to AD in coupled intrinsic time-delayed hyperchaotic oscillators interacting through mean-field diffusion. We identify a novel synchronization transition scenario leading to AD, namely transitions among AD, generalized anticipatory synchronization (GAS), complete synchronization (CS), and generalized lag synchronization (GLS). This transition is mediated by variation of the difference of intrinsic time-delays associated with the individual systems and has no analogue in non-delayed systems or coupled oscillators with coupling time-delay. We further show that, for equal intrinsic time-delays, increasing coupling strength results in a transition from the unsynchronized state to AD state via in-phase (complete) synchronized states. Using Krasovskii-Lyapunov theory, we derive the stability conditions that predict the parametric region of occurrence of GAS, GLS, and CS; also, using a linear stability analysis, we derive the condition of occurrence of AD. We use the error function of proper synchronization manifold and a modified form of the similarity function to provide the quantitative support to GLS and GAS. We demonstrate all the scenarios in an electronic circuit experiment; the experimental time-series, phase-plane plots, and generalized autocorrelation function computed from the experimental time series data are used to confirm the occurrence of all the phenomena in the coupled oscillators.

Collective dynamics of a network of ratchets coupled via a stochastic dynamical environment

We investigate the collective dynamics of a network of inertia particles diffusing in a ratchet potential and interacting indirectly through their stochastic dynamical environment. We obtain analytically the condition for the existence of a stable collective state, and we show that the number N of particles in the network, and the strength k of their interaction with the environment, play key roles in synchronization and transport processes. Synchronization is preceded by symmetry-breaking associated with double-resonance oscillations and is shown to be strongly dependent on the network size: convergence to the synchronization manifold occurs much faster with a large network. For small networks, increasing the noise level enhances synchronization in the weakly coupled regime, while particles in a large network are weakly synchronized. Similarly, in the strongly coupled regime, particles in a small network are weakly synchronized; whereas the synchronization is strong and robust against noise when the network-size is large. Small and moderate networks maximize and stabilize efficient transport. Although the dynamics for larger networks is highly correlated, the transport current is erratic.

Synchronization and quorum sensing in an ensemble of indirectly coupled chaotic oscillators

The fact that the elements in some realistic systems are influenced by each other indirectly through a common environment has stimulated a new surge of studies on the collective behavior of coupled oscillators. Most of the previous studies, however, consider only the case of coupled periodic oscillators, and it remains unknown whether and to what extent the findings can be applied to the case of coupled chaotic oscillators. Here, using the population density and coupling strength as the tuning parameters, we explore the synchronization and quorum sensing behaviors in an ensemble of chaotic oscillators coupled through a common medium, in which some interesting phenomena are observed, including the appearance of the phase synchronization in the process of progressive synchronization, the various periodic oscillations close to the quorum sensing transition, and the crossover of the critical population density at the transition. These phenomena, which have not been reported for indirectly coupled periodic oscillators, reveal a corner of the rich dynamics inherent in indirectly coupled chaotic oscillators, and are believed to have important implications to the performance and functionality of some realistic systems.

Phase-flip transition in nonlinear oscillators coupled by dynamic environment

We study the dynamics of nonlinear oscillators indirectly coupled through a dynamical environment or a common medium. We observed that this form of indirect coupling leads to synchronization and phase-flip transition in periodic as well as chaotic regime of oscillators. The phase-flip transition from in- to anti-phase synchronization or vise-versa is analyzed in the parameter plane with examples of Landau-Stuart and Rössler oscillators. The dynamical transitions are characterized using various indices such as average phase difference, frequency, and Lyapunov exponents. Experimental evidence of the phase-flip transition is shown using an electronic version of the van der Pol oscillators.

Amplitude death in complex networks induced by environment

We present a mechanism for amplitude death in coupled nonlinear dynamical systems on a complex network having interactions with a common environment like external system. We develop a general stability analysis that is valid for any network topology and obtain the threshold values of coupling constants for the onset of amplitude death. An important outcome of our study is a universal relation between the critical coupling strength and the largest nonzero eigenvalue of the coupling matrix. Our results are fully supported by the detailed numerical analysis for different network topologies.

General mechanism for amplitude death in coupled systems

We introduce a general mechanism for amplitude death in coupled synchronizable dynamical systems. It is known that when two systems are coupled directly, they can synchronize under suitable conditions. When an indirect feedback coupling through an environment or an external system is introduced in them, it is found to induce a tendency for antisynchronization. We show that, for sufficient strengths, these two competing effects can lead to amplitude death. We provide a general stability analysis that gives the threshold values for onset of amplitude death. We study in detail the nature of the transition to death in several specific cases and find that the transitions can be of two types--continuous and discontinuous. By choosing a variety of dynamics, for example, periodic, chaotic, hyperchaotic, and time-delay systems, we illustrate that this mechanism is quite general and works for different types of direct coupling, such as diffusive, replacement, and synaptic couplings, and for different damped dynamics of the environment.

Targeting fixed-point solutions in nonlinear oscillators through linear augmentation

We propose a general strategy to stabilize the fixed points of nonlinear oscillators with augmented dynamics. By using this scheme, either the unstable fixed points of the oscillatory system or a new fixed point of the augmented system can be stabilized. The Lyapunov exponents are used to study the dynamical properties. This scheme is illustrated with a chaotic Lorenz oscillator coupled through an external linear dynamical system. The experimental demonstration of the proposed scheme to stabilize the fixed points is also presented.

Global convergence of quorum-sensing networks

In many natural synchronization phenomena, communication between individual elements occurs not directly but rather through the environment. One of these instances is bacterial quorum sensing, where bacteria release signaling molecules in the environment which in turn are sensed and used for population coordination. Extending this motivation to a general nonlinear dynamical system context, this paper analyzes synchronization phenomena in networks where communication and coupling between nodes are mediated by shared dynamical quantities, typically provided by the nodes' environment. Our model includes the case when the dynamics of the shared variables themselves cannot be neglected or indeed play a central part. Applications to examples from system biology illustrate the approach.