Asymptotic phase-locking dynamics and critical coupling strength for the Kuramoto model (Q2191162)

This paper considers the issue of partial and full phase-locking in the Kuramoto model of coupled phase oscillators. The authors address the questions: can a sufficient coupling strength for complete phase-locking be determined in terms of the intrinsic frequencies, the initial phases, and \(N\), the number of oscillators? And can the emergence of partial phase-locking be described rigorously? Three main results are given. Firstly, a geometric condition on the vector of initial phases that guarantees partial phase-locking is given. Secondly, an explicit coupling strength guaranteeing complete phase-locking is given, in terms of the difference between the most extreme frequencies and the initial value of the order parameter. Thirdly, it is shown that any phase-locked state with order parameter magnitude less than \(1/\sqrt{N}\) is linearly unstable.