Multiplexing topologies and time scales: The gains and losses of synchrony

Abstract

Inspired by the recent interest in collective dynamics of biological neural networks immersed in the glial cell medium, we investigate the frequency and phase order, i.e., Kuramoto type of synchronization in a multiplex two-layer network of phase oscillators of different time scales and topologies. One of them has a long-range connectivity, exemplified by the Erdos-Rényi random network, and supports both kinds of synchrony. The other is a locally coupled two-dimensional lattice that can reach frequency synchronization but lacks phase order. Drastically different layer frequencies disentangle intra- and interlayer synchronization. We find that an indirect but sufficiently strong coupling through the regular layer can induce both phase order in the originally nonsynchronized random layer and global order, even when an isolated regular layer does not manifest it in principle. At the same time, the route to global synchronization is complex: an initial onset of (partial) synchrony in the regular layer, when its intra- and interlayer coupling is increased, provokes the loss of synchrony even in the originally synchronized random layer. Ultimately, a developed asynchronous dynamics in both layers is abruptly taken over by the global synchrony of both kinds. © 2017 American Physical Society.