Structures and propagation in globally coupled systems with time delays

Abstract

We consider an ensemble of globally coupled phase oscillators whose interaction is transmitted at finite speed. This introduces time delays, which make the spatial coordinates relevant in spite of the infinite range of the interaction. We show that one-dimensional arrays synchronize in an asymptotic state where all the oscillators have the same frequency, whereas their phases are distributed in spatial structures that -in the case of periodic boundaries- can propagate, much as in coupled systems with local interactions.