Chimera states in pulse-coupled oscillator systems.

Abstract

Coupled oscillator systems can lead to states in which synchrony and chaos coexist. These states are called "chimera states." The mechanism that explains the occurrence of chimera states is not well understood, especially in pulse-coupled oscillators. We study a variation of a pulse-coupled oscillator model that has been shown to produce chimera states, demonstrate that it reproduces several of the expected chimera properties, like the formation of multiple heads and the ability to control the natural drift that Kuramoto's chimera states experience in a ring, and explain how chimera states emerge. Our contribution is defining the model, analyzing the mechanism leading to chimera states, and comparing it with examples from the field of Kuramoto oscillators.