SYNCHRONOUS VERSUS ASYNCHRONOUS DYNAMICS IN SPATIALLY DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS

Many prototypical models of spatially extended systems that are capabl e of complex spatiotemporal dynamics impose a finite discretization wi ndow of space and time. For such models, it is important to determine to what extent the specific procedure which is used to update local st ates affects the overall regimes, as the latter might turn out to be a rtifacts due to an unrealistic digitalization of the world. The chance s of generating spatiotemporal patterns with no counterparts in the ph ysical world are particularly high with granular space-time models tha t rely on a synchronous evolution of distributed states, as such synch ronous evolution is found in nature most typically in systems governed by evolution laws in the form of partial differential equations. We s how this possibility to be the case for the regimes produced in couple d map lattices, as markedly different dynamics arise when the standard synchronous model is made asynchronous. By quantifying the degree of mutual asynchrony in the system, signatures of asynchronous spatiotemp oral dynamics are unraveled and further characterized in terms of simp le stability measures.