Synchronization in networks of limit cycle oscillators

We investigate the synchronization behaviour of three different networks of nonlinearly coupled oscillators. Each network consists of several clusters of oscillators, and the clusters themselves consist of any number of oscillators. In each cluster the eigenfrequencies scatter around the cluster frequency (mean frequency). The coupling strength varies in each cluster, too. We analyze the synchronized states by means of the center manifold theorem. This enables us to calculate these states explicitly, and to prove their stability. Moreover we are able to determine frequency shifts caused by different coupling mechanisms. In a number of cases we calculate the synchronisation threshold explicitely. Numerical simulations illustrate our analytical results. In one of the three networks we have additionally analyzed a single cluster consisting of infinitely many oscillators, that is an oscillatory field. Again, the center manifold theorem enabled us to calculate the synchronized state explicitly and to prove its stability. Our results concerning the oscillatory field are in contradiction to Ermentrout's analysis 6].