Stability of the steady state of delay-coupled chaotic maps on complex networks

Abstract

We study the stability of the steady state of coupled chaotic maps with randomly distributed time delays evolving on a random network. An analysis method is developed based on the peculiar mathematical structure of the Jacobian of the steady state due to time-delayed coupling, which enables us to relate the stability of the steady state to the locations of the roots of a set of lower-order bound equations. For δ -distributed time delays (or fixed time delay), we find that the stability of the steady state is determined by the maximum modulus of the roots of a set of algebraic equations, where the only nontrivial coefficient in each equation is one of the eigenvalues of the normalized adjacency matrix of the underlying network. For general distributed time delays, we find a necessary condition for the stable steady state based on the maximum modulus of the roots of a bound equation. When the number of links is large, the nontrivial coefficients of the bound equation are just the probabilities of different time delays. Our study thus establishes the relationship between the stability of the steady state and the probability distribution of time delays, and provides a better way to investigate the influence of the distributed time delays in coupling on the global behavior of the systems. © 2008 The American Physical Society.