Network and Phase Symmetries Reveal That Amplitude Dynamics Stabilize Decoupled Oscillator Clusters

Abstract

Oscillator networks display intricate synchronization patterns. Determining their stability typically requires incorporating the symmetries of the network coupling. Going beyond analyses that appeal only to a network’s automorphism group, we explore synchronization patterns that emerge from the phase-shift invariance of the dynamical equations and symmetries in the nodes. We show that these nonstructural symmetries simplify stability calculations. We analyze a ring-network of phase–amplitude oscillators that exhibits a “decoupled” state in which physically-coupled nodes appear to act independently due to emergent cancellations in the equations of dynamical evolution. We establish that this state can be linearly stable for a ring of phase–amplitude oscillators, but not for a ring of phase-only oscillators that otherwise require explicit long-range, nonpairwise, or nonphase coupling. In short, amplitude–phase interactions are key to stable synchronization at a distance.