Constraints on Synchronizing Oscillator Networks

This paper investigates the constraints placed on some synchronized oscillator models by their underlying dynamics. Phase response graphs are used to determine the phase locking behaviors of three oscillator models. These results are compared with idealized phase response graphs for single phase and multiple phase systems. We find that all three oscillators studied are best suited to operate in a single phase system and that the requirements placed on oscillatory models for operation in a multiple phase system are not compatible with the underlying dynamics of oscillatory behavior for these types of oscillator models.