We investigate "chimera" states in a ring of identical phase oscillators coupled in a time-delayed and spatially non-local fashion. We find novel "clustered chimera" states that have spatially distributed phase coherence separated by incoherence with adjacent coherent regions in anti-phase. The existence of such time-delay induced phase clustering is further supported through solutions of a generalized functional self-consistency equation of the mean field. Our results highlight an additional mechanism for cluster formation that may find wider practical applications.
We have identified the existence of globally clustered chimera states in delay coupled oscillator populations and find that these states can breathe periodically, aperiodically and become unstable depending upon the value of coupling delay. We also find that the coupling delay induces frequency suppression in the desynchronized group. We provide numerical evidence and theoretical explanations for the above results and discuss possible applications of the observed phenomena.
Following a short report of our preliminary results [Phys. Rev. E 79, 055203(R) (2009)], we present a more detailed study of the effects of coupling delay in diffusively coupled phase oscillator populations. We find that coupling delay induces chimera and globally clustered chimera (GCC) states in delay coupled populations. We show the existence of multi-clustered states that act as link between the chimera and the GCC states. A stable GCC state goes through a variety of GCC states, namely periodic, aperiodic, long-- and short--period breathers and becomes unstable GCC leading to global synchr…
We consider chimera states of coupled identical phase oscillators where some oscillators are phase synchronized while others are desynchronized. It is known that chimera states of non-locally coupled Kuramoto--Sakaguchi oscillators in arrays of finite size are chaotic transients when the phase lag parameter $α\in (0, π/2)$; after a transient time, all the oscillators are phase synchronized, with the transient time increasing exponentially with the number of oscillators. In this work, we consider a small array of six non-locally coupled oscillators with the phase lag parameter $α\in (π/2, π)$ i…
The dynamics of a large array of coupled semiconductor lasers is studied for a nonlocal coupling scheme. Our focus is on chimera states, a self-organized spatio-temporal pattern of co-existing coherence and incoherence. In laser systems, such states have been previously found for global and nearest-neighbor coupling, mainly in small networks. The technological advantage of large arrays has motivated us to study a system of 200 nonlocally coupled lasers with respect to the emerging collective dynamics. The crucial parameters are the coupling strength, the coupling phase and the range of the non…
We study a triangular network of three populations of coupled phase oscillators with identical frequencies. The populations interact nonlocally, in the sense that all oscillators are coupled to one another, but more weakly to those in neighboring populations than to those in their own population. This triangular network is the simplest discretization of a continuous ring of oscillators. Yet it displays an unexpectedly different behavior: in contrast to the lone stable chimera observed in continuous rings of oscillators, we find that this system exhibits \emph{two coexisting stable chimeras}. B…
We obtain experimental chimera states in the minimal network of three identical mechanical oscillators (metronomes), by introducing phase-lagged all-to-all coupling. For this, we have developed a real-time model-in-the-loop coupling mechanism that allows for flexible and online change of coupling topology, strength and phase-lag. The chimera states manifest themselves as a mismatch of average frequency between two synchronous and one desynchronized oscillator. We find this kind of striking chimeric behavior is robust in a wide parameter region. At other parameters, however, chimera state can l…
We study a network of three populations of coupled phase oscillators with identical frequencies. The populations interact nonlocally, in the sense that all oscillators are coupled to one another, but more weakly to those in neighboring populations than to those in their own population. Using this system as a model system, we discuss for the first time the influence of network topology on the existence of so called chimera states. In this context, the network with three populations represents an interesting case because the populations may either be connected as a triangle, or as a chain, there…
We study an oscillatory medium with a nonlinear global coupling that gives rise to a harmonic mean-field oscillation with constant amplitude and frequency. Two types of cluster states are found, each undergoing a symmetry-breaking transition towards a related chimera state. We demonstrate that the diffusional coupling is non-essential for these complex dynamics. Furthermore, we investigate localized turbulence and discuss whether it can be categorized as a chimera state.
The emergence of order in collective dynamics is a fascinating phenomenon that characterizes many natural systems consisting of coupled entities. Synchronization is such an example where individuals, usually represented by either linear or nonlinear oscillators, can spontaneously act coherently with each other when the interactions' configuration fulfills certain conditions. However, synchronization is not always perfect, and the coexistence of coherent and incoherent oscillators, broadly known in the literature as chimera states, is also possible. Although several attempts have been made to e…
Oscillatory media can exhibit the coexistence of synchronized and desynchronized regions, so-called chimera states, for uniform parameters and symmetrical coupling. In a phase-balanced chimera state, where the totals of synchronized and desynchronized regions, respectively, are of the same size, the symmetry of the system predicts that interchanging both phases still gives a solution to the underlying equations. We observe this kind of interchange as a self-emerging phenomenon in an oscillatory medium with nonlinear global coupling. An interplay between local and global couplings renders the f…
We describe spatiotemporal patterns in a network of identical van der Pol oscillators coupled in a two-dimensional geometry. In this study, we show that the system under study demonstrates a plethora of different spatiotemporal structures including chimera states when the coupling parameters are varied. Spiral wave chimeras are formed in the network when the coupling strength is rather large and the coupling range is short enough. Another type of chimeras is a target wave chimera. It is shown that solitary states play a crucial role in forming an incoherence cluster of this chimera state. They…
We suggest a definition for a type of chimera state that appears in networks of indistinguishable phase oscillators. Defining a "weak chimera" as a type of invariant set showing partial frequency synchronization, we show that this means they cannot appear in phase oscillator networks that are either globally coupled or too small. We exhibit various networks of four, six and ten indistinguishable oscillators where weak chimeras exist with various dynamics and stabilities. We examine the role of Kuramoto-Sakaguchi coupling in giving degenerate (neutrally stable) families of weak chimera states i…
The recently discovered chimera state involves the coexistence of synchronized and desynchronized states for a group of identical oscillators. This fascinating chimera state has until now been found only in non-local or globally coupled oscillator systems. In this work, we for the first time show numerical evidence of the existence of spiral wave chimeras in reaction-diffusion systems where each element is locally coupled by diffusion. This spiral wave chimera rotates inwardly, i.e., coherent waves propagate toward the phase randomized core. A continuous transition from spiral waves with smoot…
Chimera states are firstly discovered in nonlocally coupled oscillator systems. Such a nonlocal coupling arises typically as oscillators are coupled via an external environment whose characteristic time scale $τ$ is so small (i.e., $τ\rightarrow 0$) that it could be eliminated adiabatically. Nevertheless, whether the chimera states still exist in the opposite situation (i.e., $τ\gg 1$) is unknown. Here, by coupling large populations of Stuart-Landau oscillators to a diffusive environment, we demonstrate that spiral wave chimeras do exist in this oscillator-environment coupling system even when…
Spiral waves are ubiquitous in two-dimensional systems of chemical or biological oscillators coupled locally by diffusion. At the center of such spirals is a phase singularity, a topological defect where the oscillator amplitude drops to zero. But if the coupling is nonlocal, a new kind of spiral can occur, with a circular core consisting of desynchronized oscillators running at full amplitude. Here we provide the first analytical description of such a spiral wave chimera, and use perturbation theory to calculate its rotation speed and the size of its incoherent core.
Nontrivial collective behavior may emerge from the interactive dynamics of many oscillatory units. Chimera states are chaotic patterns of spatially localized coherent and incoherent oscillations. The recently-introduced notion of a weak chimera gives a rigorously testable characterization of chimera states for finite-dimensional phase oscillator networks. In this paper we give some persistence results for dynamically invariant sets under perturbations and apply them to coupled populations of phase oscillators with generalized coupling. In contrast to the weak chimeras with nonpositive maximal …
Arrays of identical oscillators can display a remarkable spatiotemporal pattern in which phase-locked oscillators coexist with drifting ones. Discovered two years ago, such "chimera states" are believed to be impossible for locally or globally coupled systems; they are peculiar to the intermediate case of nonlocal coupling. Here we present an exact solution for this state, for a ring of phase oscillators coupled by a cosine kernel. We show that the stable chimera state bifurcates from a spatially modulated drift state, and dies in a saddle-node bifurcation with an unstable chimera.
We present an approach to generate chimera dynamics (localized frequency synchrony) in oscillator networks with two populations of (at least) two elements using a general method based on delayed interactions with linear and quadratic terms. The coupling design yields robust chimeras through a phase-model-based design of the delay and the ratio of linear and quadratic components of the interactions. We demonstrate the method in the Brusselator model and experiments with electrochemical oscillators. The technique opens the way to directly bridge chimera dynamics in phase models and real-world os…
We report the appearance of a scroll ring and scroll toroid chimera states from the proposed initial conditions for the Kuramoto model of coupled phase oscillators in the 3D grid topology with inertia. The proposed initial conditions provide an opportunity to obtain as single as well as multiple scroll ring and toroid chimeras with different major and minor diameters. We analyze their properties and demonstrate, in particular, the patterns of coherent, partially coherent, and incoherent scroll ring chimera states with different structures of filaments and chaotic oscillators. Those patterns ca…
About two decades ago it was discovered that systems of nonlocally coupled oscillators can exhibit unusual symmetry-breaking patterns composed of coherent and incoherent regions. Since then such patterns, called chimera states, have been the subject of intensive study but mostly in the stationary case when the coarse-grained system dynamics remains unchanged over time. Nonstationary coherence-incoherence patterns, in particular periodically breathing chimera states, were also reported, however not investigated systematically because of their complexity. In this paper we suggest a semi-analytic…
The present work is devoted to the detailed quantification of the transition from spiral waves to spiral wave chimeras in a network of self-sustained oscillators with two-dimensional geometry. The basic elements of the networks are the van der Pol oscillator and the FitzHugh-Nagumo neuron. Both models are in the regime of relaxation oscillations. We analyze the regime by using the indices of local sensitivity which enables us to evaluate the sensitivity of each individual oscillator at finite time. Spi-ral waves are observed in both lattices when the interaction between elements have the local…
We report on a self-emerging chimera state in a homogeneous chain of nonlocally and nonlinearly coupled oscillators. This chimera, i.e. a state with coexisting regions of complete and partial synchrony, emerges via a supercritical bifurcation from a homogeneous state and thus does not require preparation of special initial conditions. We develop a theory of chimera basing on the equations for the local complex order parameter in the Ott-Antonsen approximation. Applying a numerical linear stability analysis, we also describe the instability of the chimera and transition to a phase turbulence wi…
Chimera states are dynamical patterns in networks of coupled oscillators in which regions of synchronous and asynchronous oscillation coexist. Although these states are typically observed in large ensembles of oscillators and analyzed in the continuum limit, chimeras may also occur in systems with finite (and small) numbers of oscillators. Focusing on networks of $2N$ phase oscillators that are organized in two groups, we find that chimera states, corresponding to attracting periodic orbits, appear with as few as two oscillators per group and demonstrate that for $N>2$ the bifurcations that cr…
Nonlocally coupled oscillator systems can exhibit an exotic spatiotemporal structure called chimera, where the system splits into two groups of oscillators with sharp boundaries, one of which is phase-locked and the other is phase-randomized. Two examples of the chimera states are known: the first one appears in a ring of phase oscillators, and the second one is associated with the two-dimensional rotating spiral waves. In this article, we report yet another example of the chimera state that is associated with the so-called Ising walls in one-dimensional spatially extended systems, which is ex…
Chimera states are characterized by the symmetry-breaking coexistence of synchronized and incoherent groups of oscillators in certain chains of identical oscillators. We report on the direct experimental observation of states reminiscent of such chimeras within a ring of coupled electronic (Wien-bridge) oscillators, and compare these to numerical simulations of a theoretically derived model. Following up on earlier work characterizing the pairwise interaction of Wien-bridge oscillators by Kuramoto-Sakaguchi phase dynamics, we develop a lattice model for a chain thereof, featuring an {\it expon…
Chimera state is a recently discovered dynamical phenomenon in arrays of nonlocally coupled oscillators, that displays a self-organized spatial pattern of co-existing coherence and incoherence. We discuss the appearance of the chimera states in networks of phase oscillators with attractive and with repulsive interactions, i.e. when the coupling respectively favors synchronization or works against it. By systematically analyzing the dependence of the spatiotemporal dynamics on the level of coupling attractivity/repulsivity and the range of coupling, we uncover that different types of chimera st…
The notion of a weak chimeras provides a tractable definition for chimera states in networks of finitely many phase oscillators. Here we generalize the definition of a weak chimera to a more general class of equivariant dynamical systems by characterizing solutions in terms of the isotropy of their angular frequency vector - for coupled phase oscillators the angular frequency vector is given by the average of the vector field along a trajectory. Symmetries of solutions automatically imply angular frequency synchronization. We show that the presence of such symmetries is not necessary by giving…
Chimera states consisting of domains of coherently and incoherently oscillating nonlocally-coupled phase oscillators in systems with spatial inhomogeneity are studied. The inhomogeneity is introduced through the dependence of the oscillator frequency on its location. Two types of spatial inhomogeneity, localized and spatially periodic, are considered and their effects on the existence and properties of multi-cluster and traveling chimera states are explored. The inhomogeneity is found to break up splay states, to pin the chimera states to specific locations and to trap traveling chimeras. Many…
Functional oscillator networks, such as neuronal networks in the brain, exhibit switching between metastable states involving many oscillators. We give exact results how such global dynamics can arise in paradigmatic phase oscillator networks: higher-order network interaction gives rise to metastable chimeras - localized frequency synchrony patterns - which are joined by heteroclinic connections. Moreover, we illuminate the mechanisms that underly the switching dynamics in these experimentally accessible networks.
Networks of identical, symmetrically coupled oscillators can spontaneously split into synchronized and desynchronized sub-populations. Such chimera states were discovered in 2002, but are not well understood theoretically. Here we obtain the first exact results about the stability, dynamics, and bifurcations of chimera states by analyzing a minimal model consisting of two interacting populations of oscillators. Along with a completely synchronous state, the system displays stable chimeras, breathing chimeras, and saddle-node, Hopf and homoclinic bifurcations of chimeras.
We report the diversity of scroll wave chimeras in the three-dimensional (3D) Kuramoto model with inertia for N^{3} identical phase oscillators placed in a unit 3D cube with periodic boundary conditions. In the considered model with inertia, we have found patterns which do not exist in this system without inertia. In particular, a scroll ring chimera is obtained from random initial conditions. In contrast to this system without inertia, where all chimera states have incoherent inner parts, these states can have partially coherent or fully coherent inner parts as exemplified by a scroll ring ch…
We consider a social-type network of coupled phase oscillators. Such a network consists of an active core of mutually interacting elements, and of a flock of passive units, which follow the driving from the active elements, but otherwise are not interacting. We consider a ring geometry with a long-range coupling, where active oscillators form a fluctuating chimera pattern. We show that the passive elements are strongly correlated. This is explained by negative transversal Lyapunov exponents.
Arrays of identical limit-cycle oscillators have been used to model a wide variety of pattern-forming systems, such as neural networks, convecting fluids, laser arrays, and coupled biochemical oscillators. These systems are known to exhibit rich collective behavior, from synchrony and traveling waves to spatiotemporal chaos and incoherence. Recently, Kuramoto and his colleagues reported a strange new mode of organization--here called the chimera state--in which coherence and incoherence exist side by side in the same system of oscillators. Such states have never been seen in systems with eithe…
We study the dynamics of mobile, locally coupled identical oscillators in the presence of coupling delays. We find different kinds of chimera states, in which coherent in-phase and anti-phase domains coexist with incoherent domains. These chimera states are dynamic and can persist for long times for intermediate mobility values. We discuss the mechanisms leading to the formation of these chimera states in different mobility regimes. This finding could be relevant for natural and technological systems composed of mobile communicating agents.
The synchronization of coupled oscillators is a fascinating manifestation of self-organization that nature employs to orchestrate essential processes of life, such as the beating of the heart. Although it was long thought that synchrony or disorder were mutually exclusive steady states for a network of identical oscillators, numerous theoretical studies in recent years have revealed the intriguing possibility of `chimera states', in which the symmetry of the oscillator population is broken into a synchronous and an asynchronous part. However, a striking lack of empirical evidence raises the qu…
The behavior of the ensemble of coupled van der Pol oscillators is abundant when coupling parameters are changed. Incoherent and chimera-like regimes are observed at small values of the coupling strength parameter. Synchronization takes place with an increase in the coupling strength and coupling range parameters. Various chimera and solitary states are realised when the coupling strength parameter is sufficiently large. The single van der Pol oscillator is taken in the regime of relaxation oscillations. Therefore, the lattice may realise spiral wave and spiral wave chimera regimes. Besides, t…
Coupled phase oscillators model a variety of dynamical phenomena in nature and technological applications. Non-local coupling gives rise to chimera states which are characterized by a distinct part of phase-synchronized oscillators while the remaining ones move incoherently. Here, we apply the idea of control to chimera states: using gradient dynamics to exploit drift of a chimera, it will attain any desired target position. Through control, chimera states become functionally relevant; for example, the controlled position of localized synchrony may encode information and perform computations. …
We consider a one-dimensional array of phase oscillators coupled via an auxiliary complex field. While in the seminal chimera studies by Kumamoto and Battogtokh only diffusion of the field was considered, we include advection which makes the coupling left-right asymmetric. Chimera starts to move and we demonstrate, that a weakly turbulent moving pattern appears. It possesses a relatively large synchronous domain where the phases are nearly equal, and a more disordered domain where the local driving field is small. For a dense system with a large number of oscillators, there are strong local co…
The simplest network of coupled phase-oscillators exhibiting chimera states is given by two populations with disparate intra- and inter-population coupling strengths. We explore the effects of heterogeneous coupling phase-lags between the two populations. Such heterogeneity arises naturally in various settings, for example as an approximation to transmission delays, excitatory-inhibitory interactions, or as amplitude and phase responses of oscillators with electrical or mechanical coupling. We find that breaking the phase-lag symmetry results in a variety of states with uniform and non-uniform…
We study how a chimera state in a one-dimensional medium of non-locally coupled oscillators responses to a periodic external force. On a macroscopic level, where chimera can be considered as an oscillating object, forcing leads to entrainment of the chimera's frequency inside an Arnold tongue. On a mesoscopic level, where chimera can be viewed as a inhomogeneous, stationary or nonstationary pattern, strong forcing can lead to reguralization of an unstationary chimera. On a microscopic level of the dynamics of individual oscillators, forcing outside of the Arnold tongue leads to a multi-plateu …
We show how solitary states in a system of globally coupled FitzHugh-Nagumo oscillators can lead to the emergence of chimera states. By a numerical bifurcation analysis of a suitable reduced system in the thermodynamic limit we demonstrate how solitary states, after emerging from the synchronous state, become chaotic in a period-doubling cascade. Subsequently, states with a single chaotic oscillator give rise to states with an increasing number of incoherent chaotic oscillators. In large systems, these chimera states show extensive chaos. We demonstrate the coexistence of many of such chaotic …
A chimera state is a spatio-temporal pattern in a network of identical coupled oscillators in which synchronous and asynchronous oscillation coexist. This state of broken symmetry, which usually coexists with a stable spatially symmetric state, has intrigued the nonlinear dynamics community since its discovery in the early 2000s. Recent experiments have led to increasing interest in the origin and dynamics of these states. Here we review the history of research on chimera states and highlight major advances in understanding their behaviour.
We demonstrate that chimera behavior can be observed in ensembles of phase oscillators with unidirectional coupling. For a small network consisting of only three identical oscillators (cyclic triple), tiny {\it chimera islands} arise in the parameter space. They are surrounded by developed chaotic switching behavior caused by a collision of rotating waves propagating in opposite directions. For larger networks, as we show for hundred oscillators (cyclic century), the islands merge into a single {\it chimera continent} which incorporates the world of chimeras of different configuration. The phe…
We consider an array of non-locally coupled oscillators on a ring, which for equally spaced units possesses a Kuramoto-Battogtokh chimera regime and a synchronous state. We demonstrate that disorder in oscillators positions leads to a transition from the synchronous to the chimera state. For a static (quenched) disorder we find that the probability of synchrony survival changes, in dependence on the number of particles, from nearly zero at small populations to one in the thermodynamic limit. Furthermore, we demonstrate how the synchrony gets destroyed for randomly (ballistically or diffusively…
Chimeras are surprising yet important states in which domains of decoherent (asynchronous) and coherent (synchronous) oscillations co-exist. In this article, we report on the discovery of a new class of chimeras, called {\it mixed-amplitude chimera states}, in which the structures, amplitudes, and frequencies of the oscillations differ substantially in the decoherent and coherent regions. These mixed-amplitude chimeras exhibit domains of decoherent small-amplitude oscillations (phase waves) coexisting with domains of stable and coherent large-amplitude or mixed-mode oscillations. They are obse…
Chimera states in spatially extended networks of oscillators have some oscillators synchronised while the remainder are asynchronous. These states have primarily been studied in networks with nonlocal coupling, and more recently in networks with global coupling. Here we present three networks with only local coupling (diffusive, to nearest neighbours) which are numerically found to support chimera states. One of the networks is analysed using a self-consistency argument in the continuum limit, and this is used to find the boundaries of existence of a chimera state in parameter space.
Chimera states, which consist of coexisting synchronous and asynchronous domains in networks of coupled oscillators, are in the focus of attention for over a decade. Although chimera morphology and properties have been investigated in a number of models, the mechanism responsible for their formation is still not well understood. To shed light in the chimera producing mechanism, in the present study we introduce an oscillatory model with variable frequency governed by a 3rd order equation. In this model single oscillators are constructed as bistable and depending on the initial conditions their…
We report a novel mechanism for the formation of chimera states, a peculiar spatiotemporal pattern with coexisting synchronized and incoherent domains found in ensembles of identical oscillators. Considering Stuart-Landau oscillators we demonstrate that a nonlinear global coupling can induce this symmetry breaking. We find chimera states also in a spatially extended system, a modified complex Ginzburg-Landau equation. This theoretical prediction is validated with an oscillatory electrochemical system, the electrooxidation of silicon, where the spontaneous formation of chimeras is observed with…
We report and classify the rich variety of patterns forming spontaneously in the oxide layer during the oscillatory photoelectrodissolution of n-type doped silicon electrodes under limited illumination. Remarkably, these patterns are often comprised of several dynamical states coexisting on the electrode, such as subharmonic phase clusters and spatio-temporal chaos, and include so-called 'chimera states'. The experiments suggest that the subharmonic phase clusters emerge from a period doubling bifurcation which, upon further parameter changes, evolve into classical phase clusters. Experimental…
A chimera state is a spatiotemporal pattern in which a network of identical coupled oscillators exhibits coexisting regions of asynchronous and synchronous oscillation. Two distinct classes of chimera states have been shown to exist: "spots" and "spirals." Here we study coupled oscillators on the surface of a sphere, a single system in which both spot and spiral chimera states appear. We present an analysis of the birth and death of spiral chimera states and show that although they coexist with spot chimeras, they are stable in disjoint regions of parameter space.
We study the stable spatiotemporal patterns that arise in a 3D network of neuron oscillators, whose dynamics is described by the Leaky Integrate-and-Fire (LIF) model. More specifically, we investigate the form of the chimera states induced by a 3D coupling matrix with nonlocal topology. The observed patterns are in many cases direct generalizations of the corresponding 2D patterns, e.~g. spheres, layers and cylinder grids. We also find cylindrical and "cross-layered" chimeras that do not have an equivalent in 2D systems. Quantitative measures are calculated, such as the ratio of synchronized a…
Recently a novel dynamical state, called the {\it chimera death}, is discovered in a network of non locally coupled identical oscillators [A. Zakharova, M. Kapeller, and E. Schöll, Phy.Rev.Lett. 112, 154101 (2014)], which is defined as the coexistence of spatially coherent and incoherent oscillation death state. This state arises due to the interplay of non locality and symmetry breaking and thus bridges the gap between two important dynamical states, namely the chimera and oscillation death. In this paper we show that the chimera death can be induced in a network of generic identical oscillat…
