Synchronized regions of pinned complex networks: spectral analysis

The synchronization problem for a complex dynamical network is investigated in this paper from a spectral analysis approach. It is assumed that only a small portion of the nodes in the network are chosen to be controlled, known as the pinning control scheme. Some new types of synchronized regions for networks with different node dynamics and inner-coupling structures are discovered, especially for the case of the special chaotic node systems with a stable equilibrium point under fully anti-diagonal and partially anti-diagonal couplings. The eigenvalue distributions of the coupling and control matrices for different types of complex networks are obtained. The effects of the network topology, global coupling strength, pinning density, and pinning strength on the network synchronizability are examined through extensive numerical simulations. It is shown that the synchronizability of the pinned network can be effectively improved by increasing the overall coupling strength, pinning density, and pinning strength for some classes of synchronized regions, whereas too large the pinning density and pinning strength will lead to desynchronization for other classes. It is found that small-world networks are not always easier to synchronize than regular rings, and a denser eigenvalue distribution may not always imply better synchronizability.