Diversity-enhanced stability.

Ndjomatchoua, Frank Thomas; Gninzanlong, Carlos Lawrence; Djomo, Thierry Landry Michel Mbong; Kepnang Pebeu, Maxime Fabrice; Tchawoua, Clément · Phys Rev E · 2023

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Abstract

We give compelling evidence that diversity, represented by a quenched disorder, can produce a resonant collective transition between two unsteady states in a network of coupled oscillators. The stability of a metastable state is optimized and the mean first-passage time maximized at an intermediate value of diversity. This finding shows that a system can benefit from inherent heterogeneity by allowing it to maximize the transition time from one state to another at the appropriate degree of heterogeneity.