The synchronization transition in correlated oscillator populations

Abstract: The synchronization transition of correlated ensembles of coupled Kuramoto oscillators on sparse random networks is investigated. Extensive numerical simulations show that correlations between the native frequencies of adjacent oscillators on the network systematically shift the critical point as well as the critical exponents characterizing the transition. Negative correlations imply an onset of synchronization for smaller coupling, whereas positive correlations shift the critical coupling towards larger interaction strengths. For negatively correlated oscillators the transition still exhibits critical behaviour similar to the all-to-all coupled Kuramoto system, while positive correlations change the universality class of the transition depending on the correlation strength. Crucially, the paper demonstrates that the synchronization behaviour is not only determined by the coupling architecture, but is also strongly influenced by the oscillator placement on the coupling network.