Taming Explosive Growth through Dynamic Random Links

Abstract: We study the dynamics of a collection of nonlinearly coupled limit cycle oscillators, relevant to systems ranging from neuronal populations to electrical circuits, under coupling topologies varying from a regular ring to a random network. We find that the trajectories of this system escape to infinity under regular coupling, for sufficiently strong coupling strengths. However, when some fraction of the regular connections are dynamically randomized, the unbounded growth is suppressed and the system always remains bounded. Further we determine the critical fraction of random links necessary for successful prevention of explosive behaviour, for different network rewiring time-scales. These results suggest a mechanism by which blow-ups may be controlled in extended oscillator systems.