Global synchronization and asymptotic stability of complex dynamical networks

Global synchronization and asymptotic stability of complex dynamical networks are investigated in this paper. Based on a reference state, a sufficient condition for global synchronization and stability is derived. Unlike other approaches where only local results were obtained, the complex network is not linearized in this paper. Instead, the sufficient condition for the global synchronization and asymptotical stability is obtained here by introducing a reference state with the Lyapunov stability theorem rather than the Lyapunov exponents, and this condition is simply given in terms of the network coupling matrix therefore is very convenient to use. Furthermore, the developed technique is applied to networks consisting of nodes with unknown but bounded nonlinear functions. A typical example of a complex network with chaotic nodes is finally used to verify the theoretical results and the effectiveness of the proposed synchronization scheme.