Entraining spatiotemporal synchrony of coupled oscillators through adaptive master-slave strategy

An adaptive master-slave scheme to entrain the synchronization dynamics of networks of coupled oscillators is proposed. By adjusting the correlation of the natural frequencies of oscillators in two layers, the synchrony in the slave layer can be efficiently modulated by adopting the Hebbian plasticity from the master layer. When natural frequencies in two layers are positively correlated, the synchronization in the slave layer is weakened. Nevertheless, for an anticorrelation between two layers, the synchronization in the slave layer can be significantly enhanced, even when oscillators in the master network are in the incoherent state. The mechanism of synchronization modulation is explored by resorting to the master-slave dynamics, the self-consistent method, and the macroscopic-microscopic analysis of effective frequencies. The present study is expected to pave the way for modulating the synchronization of oscillator networks by designing an adaptive plasticity scheme driven by another network.