title: Synchronization and quorum sensing in an ensemble of indirectly coupled chaotic oscillators.
abstract: The fact that the elements in some realistic systems are influenced by each other indirectly through a common environment has stimulated a new surge of studies on the collective behavior of coupled oscillators. Most of the previous studies, however, consider only the case of coupled periodic oscillators, and it remains unknown whether and to what extent the findings can be applied to the case of coupled chaotic oscillators. Here, using the population density and coupling strength as the tuning parameters, we explore the synchronization and quorum sensing behaviors in an ensemble of chaotic oscillators coupled through a common medium, in which some interesting phenomena are observed, including the appearance of the phase synchronization in the process of progressive synchronization, the various periodic oscillations close to the quorum sensing transition, and the crossover of the critical population density at the transition. These phenomena, which have not been reported for indirectly coupled periodic oscillators, reveal a corner of the rich dynamics inherent in indirectly coupled chaotic oscillators, and are believed to have important implications to the performance and functionality of some realistic systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310036, China.
authors.forename: Bing-Wei
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Chenbo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xingang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D053038:Quorum Sensing