STRANGE WAVES IN COUPLED-OSCILLATOR ARRAYS - MAPPING APPROACH

A phase model of rings of coupled oscillators is proposed and shown to exhibit a peculiar type of wave. As a parameter is varied, such waves are burn with a characteristic pattern and then develop into complex waves such that phase differences between neighboring oscillators are spatially ''chaotic,'' showing type-3 intermittency. Their behavior is studied on the basis of a multivalued one-dimensional map obeyed by t he phase differences.