Fixed points and stability in the two-network frustrated Kuramoto model

Abstract: We examine a modification of the Kuramoto model for phase oscillators coupled on a network. Here, two populations of oscillators are considered, each with different network topologies, internal and cross-network couplings and frequencies. Additionally, frustration parameters for the interactions of the cross-network phases are introduced. This may be regarded as a model of competing populations: internal to any one network phase synchronisation is a target state, while externally one or both populations seek to frequency synchronise to a phase in relation to the competitor. We conduct fixed point analyses for two regimes: one, where internal phase synchronisation occurs for each population with the potential for instability in the phase of one population in relation to the other; the second where one part of a population remains fixed in phase in relation to the other population, but where instability may occur within the first population leading to `fragmentation'. We compare analytic results to numerical solutions for the system at various critical thresholds.