State-dependent vulnerability of synchronization.

Abstract

A state-dependent vulnerability of synchronization is shown to exist in a complex network composed of numerically simulated electronic circuits. We demonstrate that disturbances to the local dynamics of network units can produce different outcomes to synchronization depending on the current state of its trajectory. We address such state dependence by systematically perturbing the synchronized system at states equally distributed along its trajectory. We find the states at which the perturbation desynchronizes the network to be complicatedly mixed with the ones that restore synchronization. Additionally, we characterize perturbation sets obtained for consecutive states by defining a safety index between them. Finally, we demonstrate that the observed vulnerability is due to the existence of an unstable chaotic set in the system's state space.