Dynamics of disordered heterogeneous chains of phase oscillators

Abstract

We study the problem of robustness of synchronous states to disorder in the chain of phase oscillators with local coupling. The study combines a numerical determination of the existence and stability of synchronous states with an analytical investigation of the role of the phase shift and the level of disorder in the natural frequencies in the destruction of synchrony. We show that the presence of the phase shift facilitates robustness of the synchronous regime, at least up to its certain threshold value.