Theory of self-synchronization in the presence of native frequency distribution and external noises (Q1069869)

A general scheme is presented for the theoretical treatment of self- synchronization of many-body oscillators with variable amplitudes, close to harmonic ones with small nonlinearity and dissipative interactions, in the presence of external noises and a native frequency distribution. Applications of the theory are given to interacting van der Pol oscillators with various frequency distributions. The critical condition which leads to a nonvanishing order parameter is studied in detail. It turns out that the synchronization is described in terms of two kinds of bifurcation mechanism, mechanical and thermal ones.