FIRST-ORDER PHASE-TRANSITION RESULTING FROM FINITE INERTIA IN COUPLEDOSCILLATOR-SYSTEMS

We analyze the collective behavior of a set of coupled damped driven p endula with finite (large) inertia, and show that the synchronization of the oscillators exhibits a first order phase transition synchroniza tion onset, substantially different from the second order transition o btained in the case of no inertia. There is hysteresis between two mac roscopic states, a weakly and a strongly coherent synchronized state, depending on the coupling and the initial state of the oscillators. A self-consistent theory is shown to determine these cooperative phenome na and to predict the observed numerical data in specific examples.