Abrupt and continuous spontaneous emergence of collective synchronization of coupled oscillators have attracted much attention. In this paper, we propose a dynamical ensemble order parameter equation that enables us to grasp the essential low-dimensional dynamical mechanism of synchronization in networks of coupled oscillators. Different solutions of the dynamical ensemble order parameter equation build correspondences with diverse collective states, and different bifurcations reveal various transitions among these collective states. The structural relationship between the incoherent state and the synchronous state leads to different routes of transitions to synchronization, either continuous or discontinuous. The explosive synchronization is determined by the bistable state where the measure of each state and the critical points are obtained analytically by using the dynamical ensemble order parameter equation. Our method and results hold for heterogeneous networks with star graph motifs such as scale-free networks, and hence, provide an effective approach in understanding the routes to synchronization in more general complex networks.

We present an analytical description for the collective dynamics of oscillator ensembles with higher-order coupling encoded by simplicial structure, which serves as an illustrative and insightful paradigm for brain function and information storage. The novel dynamics of the system, including abrupt desynchronization and multistability, are rigorously characterized and the critical points that correspond to a continuum of first-order phase transitions are found to satisfy universal scaling properties. More importantly, the underlying bifurcation mechanism giving rise to multiple clusters with arbitrary ensemble size is characterized using a rigorous spectral analysis of the stable cluster states. As a consequence of SO 2 group symmetry, we show that the continuum of abrupt desynchronization transitions result from the instability of a collective mode under the nontrivial antisymmetric manifold in the high-dimensional phase space.

Recently, the first-order synchronization transition has been studied in systems of coupled phase oscillators. In this paper, we propose a framework to investigate the synchronization in the frequency-weighted Kuramoto model with all-to-all couplings. A rigorous mean-field analysis is implemented to predict the possible steady states. Furthermore, a detailed linear stability analysis proves that the incoherent state is only neutrally stable below the synchronization threshold. Nevertheless, interestingly, the amplitude of the order parameter decays exponentially (at least for short time) in this regime, resembling the Landau damping effect in plasma physics. Moreover, the explicit expression for the critical coupling strength is determined by both the mean-field method and linear operator theory. The mechanism of bifurcation for the incoherent state near the critical point is further revealed by the amplitude expansion theory, which shows that the oscillating standing wave state could also occur in this model for certain frequency distributions. Our theoretical analysis and numerical results are consistent with each other, which can help us understand the synchronization transition in general networks with heterogenous couplings.

We generalize the Kuramoto model for the synchronization transition of globally coupled phase oscillators to populations by incorporating an additional heterogeneity with the coupling strength, where each oscillator pair interacts with different coupling strength weighted by a genera; function of their natural frequency. The expression for the critical coupling can be straightforwardly extended to a generalized explicit formula analytically, and s self-consistency approach is developed to predict the stationary states in the thermodynamic limit. The landau damping effect is further revealed by means of the linear stability analysis and resonance poles theory above the critical threshold which turns to be far more generic. Furthermore, the dimensionality reduction technique of the Ott-Antonsen is implemented to capture the analytical description of relaxation dynamics of the steady states valid on a globally attracting manifold. Our theoretical analysis and numerical results are consistent with each other, which can help us understand the synchronization transition in general networks with heterogenous couplings.