title: Synchronization in chaotic Hamiltonian systems and a geophysical application.
abstract: This paper addresses the question of the rate of synchronization of two identical systems as a function of the inserting time interval Delta t between inserted variables of the driving system in the role of the same variables of the driven system in a simplified Hamiltonian system and its application to a simplified geophysical model. We start by analyzing the synchronization in a simplified two-degree Hamiltonian system. The synchronization rate turns out to be a decreasing function of the inserting time interval Delta t up to a certain limit Delta t(o) where the process reverses and the synchronization rate becomes slower as the inserting frequency decreases. The key point of the analysis uses a second-order Taylor expansion of the system resolvent which indicates that synchronization rate is basically of order O(Delta t(2)) for small Delta t. The study is then extended to include a simplified geophysical system. A nonlinear one-dimensional shallow-water model on a periodic domain meant to represent a latitudinal circle around 45 degrees N is used. It is found that when the zonal wind is inserted, the maximum synchronization rate is obtained when the inserting time interval is approximately 4 h. When the meridional wind is inserted, it is obtained at slightly less than 4 h. It is shown, in particular, that the synchronization rate depends on the latitude (or the Coriolis parameter). A low-order simplified dynamical system derived from the one-dimensional shallow-water model is used to show that this optimum time interval Delta t(o) when the zonal wind and the geopotential, for example, are inserted varies approximately as square root of [2]/2 Omega sin phi to accuracy O(Delta t(3)). Analyses performed with a linear version of the shallow-water model reveal that this latter can be used to explain the observed convergence behavior in the nonlinear model. The only point is the choice of the stationary state for linearization purposes. It is then suggested that in more complicated geophysical systems, the closest stationary state to the climatology can be used to estimate the crossover point Delta t(o).
authors.affiliation: Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hannachi