Sydney Dynamics Group: Zachary Nicolaou -- Critical Switching in Globally Attractive Chimeras

Dear all, 

This week, Friday May 29, Zachary Nicolaou (Northwestern University) will give a talk at
11am via Zoom.  Note the unusual time.  
Zoom link: https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/j/99531691151 
Meeting ID: 995 3169 1151 

Title: Critical Switching in Globally Attractive Chimeras 

Abstract: We report on a new type of chimera state that attracts almost all initial
conditions and exhibits power-law switching behavior in networks of coupled
oscillators.  Such switching chimeras consist of two symmetric configurations, which we
refer to as subchimeras, in which one cluster is synchronized and the other is
incoherent.  Despite each subchimera being linearly stable, switching chimeras are
extremely sensitive to noise: Arbitrarily small noise triggers and sustains persistent
switching between the two symmetric subchimeras.  The average switching frequency scales
as a power law with the noise intensity, which is in contrast with the exponential
scaling observed in typical stochastic transitions.  Rigorous numerical analysis reveals
that the power-law switching behavior originates from intermingled basins of attraction
associated with the two subchimeras, which, in turn, are induced by chaos and symmetry
in the system.  The theoretical results are supported by experiments on coupled
optoelectronic oscillators, which demonstrate the generality and robustness of switching
chimeras.  

Past talks can be viewed on the YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZqgDJ21wbdzMbeIdealpUg/ 

I hope to see you all online.  Lachlan