Intermittency transition to generalized synchronization in coupled time-delay systems

Abstract

We report the nature of the transition to generalized synchronization (GS) in a system of two coupled scalar piecewise linear time-delay systems using the auxiliary system approach. We demonstrate that the transition to GS occurs via an on-off intermittency route and that it also exhibits characteristically distinct behaviors for different coupling configurations. In particular, the intermittency transition occurs in a rather broad range of coupling strength for the error feedback coupling configuration and in a narrow range of coupling strength for the direct feedback coupling configuration. It is also shown that the intermittent dynamics displays periodic bursts of periods equal to the delay time of the response system in the former case, while they occur in random time intervals of finite duration in the latter case. The robustness of these transitions with system parameters and delay times has also been studied for both linear and nonlinear coupling configurations. The results are corroborated analytically by suitable stability conditions for asymptotically stable synchronized states and numerically by the probability of synchronization and by the transition of sub-Lyapunov exponents of the coupled time-delay systems. We have also indicated the reason behind these distinct transitions by referring to the unstable periodic orbit theory of intermittency synchronization in low-dimensional systems.