Type-III intermittency in emergent bursting dynamics of globally coupled rotators

Globally coupled populations of phase rotators with linear adaptive coupling can exhibit collective bursting oscillations between asynchronous and partially synchronized states, which can be either periodic or chaotic. Here, we analyze the transition between these two regimes, where the dynamics consists of periods of nearly regular bursting interspersed with irregular spiking intervals, and demonstrate its correspondence to intermittent transition to chaos. Specifically, we consider a bimodal Kuramoto model with linear global feedback, which allows for a mean-field formulation of the dynamics and thus to investigate the phenomenology in the thermodynamic limit. We reconstruct the one-dimensional first-return maps of inter-burst intervals and estimate the Floquet multiplier associated with the unstable bursting solution. The results indicate type-III intermittency, which is also supported by the scaling of the average laminar periods as the control parameter varies, along with their probability density distribution. • Intermittency spontaneously arises in the collective dynamics of a network of phase rotators. • An exact mean-field formulation of the dynamics allows us to analyze the phenomenon. • The scaling laws that govern laminar phases are consistent with type-III intermittency. • Intermittency is driven by a critical manifold which organizes the dynamics on a slow timescale.