Emergent organization of oscillator clusters in coupled self-regulatory chaotic maps

Abstract

Here we introduce a model of parametrically coupled chaotic maps on a one-dimensional lattice. In this model, each element has its internal self-regulatory dynamics, whereby at fixed intervals of time the nonlinearity parameter at each site is adjusted by feedback from its past evolution. Additionally, the maps are coupled sequentially and unidirectionally, to their nearest neighbor, through the difference of their parametric variations. Interestingly we find that this model asymptotically yields clusters of superstable oscillators with different periods. We observe that the sizes of these oscillator clusters have a power-law distribution. Moreover, we find that the transient dynamics gives rise to a 1/f power spectrum. All these characteristics indicate self-organization and emergent scaling behavior in this system. We also interpret the power-law characteristics of the proposed system from an ecological point of view.