title: Experimental study of the irrational phase synchronization of coupled nonidentical mechanical metronomes.
abstract: It has recently been observed in numerical simulations that the phases of two coupled nonlinear oscillators can become locked into an irrational ratio, exhibiting the phenomenon of irrational phase synchronization (IPS) [Phys. Rev. E 69, 056228 (2004)]. Here, using two coupled nonidentical periodic mechanical metronomes, we revisit this interesting phenomenon through experimental studies. It is demonstrated that under suitable couplings, the phases of the metronomes indeed can become locked into irrational ratios. Numerical simulations confirm the experimental observations and also reveal that in the IPS state, the system dynamics are chaotic. Our studies provide a solid step toward further studies of IPS.
authors.affiliation: School of Science, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China.
authors.forename: Zhiwen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: School of Science, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China.
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Science, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou 341000, China.
authors.forename: Weiqing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Science, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China.
authors.forename: Jinghua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiao
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics