SYNCHRONIZATION IN SMALL ASSEMBLIES OF CHAOTIC SYSTEMS

In this paper we investigate the behavior of small networks of van der Pol-Duffing chaotic oscillators that are connected through local, alt hough not weak, coupling through a recently introduced [Phys. Rev. E 5 2, R2145 (1995)] extension of the Pecora-Carroll synchronization metho d. The method allows one to design a variety of settings with differen t ways of connecting a number of low-dimensional circuits. It is shown that a variety of different behaviors can be obtained, depending, amo ng other factors, on the symmetry of the connections and on whether th e oscillators are identical or different. One may cite the emergence o f coherent behavior (a single cluster), either chaotic or periodic, as stemming just from interaction among the different chaotic units, alt hough several coexisting clusters are found for other settings.