Order-disorder transitions in a minimal model of self-sustained coupled oscillators

摘要

Spontaneous synchronization of interacting pendulum clocks offers a fascinating and pedagogical demonstration for order-disorder type phase transitions.A minimal model consisting of self-sustained harmonic oscillators placed on a common platform is used to model such systems.Varying the frequency of the oscillators, the mass of the platform and the friction coefficient of the platform we illustrate transitions from partially synchronized to unsynchronized states.Finite size effects are studied and the results are discussed in view of recent experiments performed with metronomes.We find a highly non-trivial trend for the synchrony level as a function of the number of oscillators placed on the platform: there is a an optimal number of oscillators for which the maximum synchrony level is reached.