Generalized <i>N</i>-rotor problems, synchronized subsystems, and associated solitons

We consider systems of N particles interacting on the unit circle through 2π-periodic potentials. An example is the N-rotor problem that arises as the classical limit of coupled Josephson junctions and for various energies is known to have a wide range of behaviors such as global chaos and ergodicity, together with families of periodic solutions and transitions from order to chaos. We focus here on selected initial values for generalized systems in which the second order Euler-Lagrange equations reduce to first order equations, which we show by example can describe an ensemble of oscillators with associated emergent phenomena such as synchronization. A specific case is that of the Kuramoto model with well-known synchronization properties. We further demonstrate the relation of these models to field theories in 1+1 dimensions that allow static kink solitons satisfying first order Bogomolny equations, well-known in soliton physics, which correspond to the first order equations of the generalized N-rotor models. For the nonlinear pendulum, for example, the first order equations define the separatrix in the phase portrait of the system and correspond to kink solitons in the sine-Gordon equation.