Joseph T. Lizier, Frank Bauer, Fatihcan M. Atay, and Jürgen Jost

PNAS 120 (37) e2303332120

How does the quality of synchronization between coupled oscillators depend on the network structure that connects them? This question has been at the forefont of studies on the structure–dynamics relationship, one of the most important open problems in complex systems. We present a method to fully and generally relate the structure of a network to its synchronizability, without assumptions made by previous approaches such as symmetric connections. Moreover, we reveal the impact of patterns of network connections among small groups of nodes (motifs) on the whole of network synchronizability. Our results implicate the prevalence of clustered structure such as feedforward and feedback loops as the most important factor in synchronizability.

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