Effective synchronization amid noise-induced chaos

Abstract: Two remote agents with synchronized clocks may use them to act in concert and communicate. This necessitates some means of creating and maintaining synchrony. One method, not requiring any direct interaction between the agents, is exposing them to a common, environmental, stochastic forcing. This "noise-induced synchronization" only occurs under sufficiently mild forcing; stronger forcing disrupts synchronization. We investigate the regime of strong noise, where the clocks' phases evolve chaotically. Using a simple realization of disruptive noise, we demonstrate effective synchronization. Namely, although the phases of the two clocks vary erratically, their probability distributions at a given moment become identical. We exploit this statistical synchrony to define an effective phase for an agent that closely agrees with the other's phase. We discuss how this synchronization of ensembles broadens the range in which noise-induced synchronization can be used, and how it might be exploited in living systems.