Synchronization and spatial patterns in forced swarmalators

Bifurcations in the Kuramoto model with external forcing and higher-order interactions

Synchronization is an important phenomenon in a wide variety of systems comprising interacting oscillatory units, whether natural (like neurons, biochemical reactions, and cardiac cells) or artificial (like metronomes, power grids, and Josephson junctions). The Kuramoto model provides a simple description of these systems and has been useful in their mathematical exploration. Here, we investigate this model by combining two common features that have been observed in many systems: External periodic forcing and higher-order interactions among the elements. We show that the combination of these ingredients leads to a very rich bifurcation scenario that produces 11 different asymptotic states of the system, with competition between forced and spontaneous synchronization. We found, in particular, that saddle-node, Hopf, and homoclinic manifolds are duplicated in regions of parameter space where the unforced system displays bi-stability.

Collective dynamics of swarmalators driven by a mobile pacemaker

Swarmalators, namely, oscillators with intrinsic frequencies that are able to self-propel to move in space, may undergo collective spatial swarming and meanwhile phase synchronous dynamics. In this paper, a swarmalator model driven by an external mobile pacemaker is proposed to explore the swarming dynamics in the presence of the competition between the external organization of the moving pacemaker and the intrinsic self-organization among oscillators. It is unveiled that the swarmalator system may exhibit a wealth of novel spatiotemporal patterns including the spindle state, the ripple state, and the trapping state. Transitions among these patterns and the mechanisms are studied with the help of different order parameters. The phase diagrams present systematic scenarios of various possible collective swarming dynamics and the transitions among them. The present study indicates that one may manipulate the formation and switching of the organized collective states by adjusting the external driving force, which is expected to shed light on applications of swarming performance control in natural and artificial groups of active agents.

Forced one-dimensional swarmalator model

We study a simple model of swarmalators subject to periodic forcing and confined to moving around a one-dimensional ring. This is a toy model for physical systems with a mix of sync, swarming, and forcing, such as colloidal micromotors. We find rich behavior: pinned states where the swarmalators are locked to the driving, sync states where their phases are either identical or have fixed differences, and unsteady states, such as swarmalator chimera where the population splits into two sync dots enclosed by a "train" of swarmalators that run around a peanut-shaped loop. We derive the stability thresholds for most of these states which give us a good approximation of the model's phase diagram.

Amplitude responses of swarmalators

Swarmalators are entities that swarm through space and sync in time and are potentially considered to replicate the complex dynamics of many real-world systems. So far, the internal dynamics of swarmalators have been taken as a phase oscillator inspired by the Kuramoto model. Here we examine the internal dynamics utilizing an amplitude oscillator capable of exhibiting periodic and chaotic behaviors. To incorporate the dual interplay between spatial and internal dynamics, we propose a general model that keeps the properties of swarmalators intact. This adaptation calls for a detailed study, which we present in this paper. We establish our study with the Rössler oscillator by taking parameters from both chaotic and periodic regions. While the periodic oscillator mimics most of the patterns in the previous phase oscillator model, the chaotic oscillator brings some fascinating states.

Order, chaos, and dimensionality transition in a system of swarmalators

Similarly to sperm, where individuals self-organize in space while also striving for coherence in their tail swinging, several natural and engineered systems exhibit the emergence of swarming and synchronization. The arising and interplay of these phenomena have been captured by collectives of hypothetical particles named swarmalators, each possessing a position and a phase whose dynamics are affected reciprocally and also by the space-phase states of their neighbors. In this work, we introduce a solvable model of swarmalators able to move in two-dimensional spaces. We show that several static and active collective states can emerge and derive necessary conditions for each to show up as the model parameters are varied. These conditions elucidate, in some cases, the displaying of multistability among states. Notably, in the active regime, the system exhibits hyperchaos, maintaining spatial correlation under certain conditions and breaking it under others on what we interpret as a dimensionality transition.

Swarmalators with delayed interactions

We investigate the effects of delayed interactions in a population of "swarmalators," generalizations of phase oscillators that both synchronize in time and swarm through space. We discover two steady collective states: a state in which swarmalators are essentially motionless in a disk arranged in a pseudocrystalline order, and a boiling state in which the swarmalators again form a disk, but now the swarmalators near the boundary perform boiling-like convective motions. These states are reminiscent of the beating clusters seen in photoactivated colloids and the living crystals of starfish embryos.

Attractive and repulsive interactions in the one-dimensional swarmalator model

We study a population of swarmalators, mobile variants of phase oscillators, which run on a ring and have both attractive and repulsive interactions. This one-dimensional (1D) swarmalator model produces several of collective states: the standard sync and async states as well as a splaylike "polarized" state and several unsteady states such as active bands or swirling. The model's simplicity allows us to describe some of the states analytically. The model can be considered as a toy model for real-world swarmalators such as vinegar eels and sperm which swarm in quasi-1D geometries.

Swarmalators on a ring with uncorrelated pinning

We present a case study of swarmalators (mobile oscillators) that move on a 1D ring and are subject to pinning. Previous work considered the special case where the pinning in space and the pinning in the phase dimension were correlated. Here, we study the general case where the space and phase pinning are uncorrelated, both being chosen uniformly at random. This induces several new effects, such as pinned async, mixed states, and a first-order phase transition. These phenomena may be found in real world swarmalators, such as systems of vinegar eels, Janus matchsticks, electrorotated Quincke rollers, or Japanese tree frogs.

Antiphase synchronization in a population of swarmalators

Swarmalators are oscillatory systems endowed with a spatial component, whose spatial and phase dynamics affect each other. Such systems can demonstrate fascinating collective dynamics resembling many real-world processes. Through this work, we study a population of swarmalators where they are divided into different communities. The strengths of spatial attraction, repulsion, as well as phase interaction differ from one group to another. Also, they vary from intercommunity to intracommunity. We encounter, as a result of variation in the phase coupling strength, different routes to achieve the static synchronization state by choosing several parameter combinations. We observe that when the intercommunity phase coupling strength is sufficiently large, swarmalators settle in the static synchronization state. However, with a significant small phase coupling strength the state of antiphase synchronization as well as chimeralike coexistence of sync and async are realized. Apart from rigorous numerical results, we have been successful to provide semianalytical treatment for the existence and stability of global static sync and the antiphase sync states.

Phase transitions on a multiplex of swarmalators

Dynamics of bidirectionally coupled swarmalators subject to attractive and repulsive couplings is analyzed. The probability of two elements in different layers being connected strongly depends on a defined vision range r_{c} which appears to lead both layers in different patterns while varying its values. Particularly, the interlayer static sync π has been found and its stability is proven. First-order transitions are observed when the repulsive coupling strength σ_{r} is very small for a fixed r_{c} and, moreover, in the absence of the repulsive coupling, they also appear for sufficiently large values of r_{c}. For σ_{r}=0 and for sufficiently small values of r_{c}, both layers achieve a second-order transition in a surprising two steps that are characterized by the drop of the energy of the internal phases while increasing the value of the interlayer attractive coupling σ_{a} and later a smooth jump, up to high energy value where synchronization is achieved. During these transitions, the internal phases present rotating waves with counterclockwise and later clockwise directions until synchronization, as σ_{a} increases. These results are supported by simulations and animations added as supplemental materials.

Synchronization of Sakaguchi swarmalators

Swarmalators are phase oscillators that cluster in space, like fireflies flashing in a swarm to attract mates. Interactions between particles, which tend to synchronize their phases and align their motion, decrease with the distance and phase difference between them, coupling the spatial and phase dynamics. In this work, we explore the effects of inducing phase frustration on a system of swarmalators that move on a one-dimensional ring. Our model is inspired by the well-known Kuramoto-Sakaguchi equations. We find, numerically and analytically, the ordered and disordered states that emerge in the system. The active states, not present in the model without frustration, resemble states found previously in numerical studies for the two-dimensional swarmalators system. One of these states, in particular, shows similarities to turbulence generated in a flattened media. We show that all ordered states can be generated for any values of the coupling constants by tuning the phase frustration parameters only. Moreover, many of these combinations display multistability.

Generalized frustration in the multidimensional Kuramoto model

The Kuramoto model describes how coupled oscillators synchronize their phases as the intensity of the coupling increases past a threshold. The model was recently extended by reinterpreting the oscillators as particles moving on the surface of unit spheres in a D-dimensional space. Each particle is then represented by a D-dimensional unit vector; for D=2 the particles move on the unit circle and the vectors can be described by a single phase, recovering the original Kuramoto model. This multidimensional description can be further extended by promoting the coupling constant between the particles to a matrix K that acts on the unit vectors. As the coupling matrix changes the direction of the vectors, it can be interpreted as a generalized frustration that tends to hinder synchronization. In a recent paper we studied in detail the role of the coupling matrix for D=2. Here we extend this analysis to arbitrary dimensions. We show that, for identical particles, when the natural frequencies are set to zero, the system converges either to a stationary synchronized state, given by one of the real eigenvectors of K, or to an effective two-dimensional rotation, defined by one of the complex eigenvectors of K. The stability of these states depends on the set eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the coupling matrix, which controls the asymptotic behavior of the system, and therefore, can be used to manipulate these states. When the natural frequencies are not zero, synchronization depends on whether D is even or odd. In even dimensions the transition to synchronization is continuous and rotating states are replaced by active states, where the module of the order parameter oscillates while it rotates. If D is odd the phase transition is discontinuous and active states can be suppressed for some distributions of natural frequencies.

Diverse behaviors in non-uniform chiral and non-chiral swarmalators

We study the emergent behaviors of a population of swarming coupled oscillators, dubbed swarmalators. Previous work considered the simplest, idealized case: identical swarmalators with global coupling. Here we expand this work by adding more realistic features: local coupling, non-identical natural frequencies, and chirality. This more realistic model generates a variety of new behaviors including lattices of vortices, beating clusters, and interacting phase waves. Similar behaviors are found across natural and artificial micro-scale collective systems, including social slime mold, spermatozoa vortex arrays, and Quincke rollers. Our results indicate a wide range of future use cases, both to aid characterization and understanding of natural swarms, and to design complex interactions in collective systems from soft and active matter to micro-robotics.

Sync and Swarm: Solvable Model of Nonidentical Swarmalators

We study a model of nonidentical swarmalators, generalizations of phase oscillators that both sync in time and swarm in space. The model produces four collective states: asynchrony, sync clusters, vortexlike phase waves, and a mixed state. These states occur in many real-world swarmalator systems such as biological microswimmers, chemical nanomotors, and groups of drones. A generalized Ott-Antonsen ansatz provides the first analytic description of these states and conditions for their existence. We show how this approach may be used in studies of active matter and related disciplines.

Swarmalators on a ring with distributed couplings

We study a simple model of identical "swarmalators," generalizations of phase oscillators that swarm through space. We confine the movements to a one-dimensional (1D) ring and consider distributed (nonidentical) couplings; the combination of these two effects captures an aspect of the more realistic two-dimensional swarmalator model. We discover several collective states which we describe analytically. These states imitate the behavior of vinegar eels, catalytic microswimmers, and other swarmalators which move on quasi-1D rings.

Collective behavior of swarmalators on a ring

We study the collective behavior of swarmalators, generalizations of phase oscillators that both sync and swarm, confined to move on a one-dimensional (1D) ring. This simple model captures the essence of movement in two or three dimensions, but has the benefit of being solvable: most of the collective states and their bifurcations can be specified exactly. The model also captures the behavior of real-world swarmalators which swarm in quasi-1D rings such as bordertaxic vinegar eels and sperm.

Coupling disorder in a population of swarmalators

We consider a population of two-dimensional oscillators with random couplings and explore the collective states. The coupling strength between oscillators is randomly quenched with two values, one of which is positive while the other is negative, and the oscillators can spatially move depending on the state variables for phase and position. We find that the system shows the phase transition from the incoherent state to the fully synchronized one at a proper ratio of the number of positive couplings to the total. The threshold is numerically measured and analytically predicted by the linear stability analysis of the fully synchronized state. It is found that the random couplings induce the long-term state patterns appearing for constant strength. The oscillators move to the places where the randomly quenched couplings work as if annealed. We further observe that the system with mixed randomnesses for quenched couplings shows the combination of the deformed patterns understandable with each annealed average.

Collective steady-state patterns of swarmalators with finite-cutoff interaction distance

We study the steady-state patterns of population of the coupled oscillators that sync and swarm, where the interaction distances among the oscillators have a finite-cutoff in the interaction distance. We examine how the static patterns known in the infinite-cutoff are reproduced or deformed and explore a new static pattern that does not appear until a finite-cutoff is considered. All steady-state patterns of the infinite-cutoff, static sync, static async, and static phase wave are repeated in space for proper finite-cutoff ranges. Their deformation in shape and density takes place for the other finite-cutoff ranges. Bar-like phase wave states are observed, which has not been the case for the infinite-cutoff. All the patterns are investigated via numerical and theoretical analyses.

Emergent behavior in an adversarial synchronization and swarming model

We consider a red-versus-blue coupled synchronization and spatial swarming (i.e., swarmalator) model that incorporates attraction and repulsion terms and an adversarial game of phases. The model exhibits behaviors such as spontaneous emergence of tactical manoeuvres of envelopment (e.g., flanking, pincer, and envelopment) that are often proposed in military theory or observed in nature. We classify these states based on a large set of features such as spatial densities, synchronization between clusters, and measures of cluster distances. These features are used to study the influence of coupling parameters on the expected presence of these states and the-sometimes sharp-transitions between them.