The mean field analysis of the Kuramoto model on graphs. II: Asymptotic stability of the incoherent state, center manifold reduction, and bifurcations (Q2423646)

This is the second of two papers. In the first [Discrete Contin. Dyn. Syst. 39, No. 1, 131--155 (2019; Zbl 1406.34064)], the authors considered the Kuramoto model of coupled phase oscillators on convergent graph sequences. They derived and rigorously justified the mean field limit for the Kuramoto model on graphs. They also performed a linear stability analysis of the incoherent state thereby determining the values of coupling strength at which this state becomes unstable. In this paper they analyse the bifurcations that occur when the incoherent state loses stability, by projecting the dynamics onto a centre manifold. They analyse two cases: when the centre manifold is one-dimensional, and when it is two-dimensional. In both cases the system undergoes a supercritical pitchfork bifurcation as the coupling strength is increased. This analysis shows the effect of network structure on the dynamics of a network. Several examples are given to demonstrate the results.