Coupled networks and networks with bimodal frequency distributions are equivalent

Abstract: Populations of oscillators can display a variety of synchronization patterns depending on the oscillators' intrinsic coupling and the coupling between them. We consider two coupled, symmetric (sub)populations with unimodal frequency distributions and show that the resulting synchronization patterns may resemble those of a single population with bimodally distributed frequencies. Our proof of the equivalence of their stability, dynamics, and bifurcations, is based on an Ott-Antonsen ansatz. The generalization to networks consisting of multiple (sub)populations vis-`a-vis networks with multimodal frequency distributions, however, appears impossible.