Hello. Welcome to my blog. I know it’s been a while I write. The past few weeks or should I say couple of weeks has been very chaotic for me (some unexpected happenings trying to topple my planned activities). I had to write exams also. So it was necessary to take time to study. This has kept me away for a while. Don’t worry, it is all for the best. I am expecting more of such busy days to come. I will try to keep up. I have really missed reading many interesting science articles by many steemstem authors. I will really try to keep up now.
Let’s get right to what I want to discuss in this article: Synchronization. If you pick up your dictionary and check the meaning of this word, you would probable find synonyms such as synergy, simultaneously, harmonious etc. this is the concept I want to discuss with respect to physical systems.
My earliest contact with synchronization was about a decade ago. A friend back then in school was working on master-slave synchronization of two systems. In this scheme, a system is considered as the master which is then used to “drive” the slave. I later realized that this can also be done for more than two systems in which the master set the pace for the slave and they move together while each still retains its individual properties. He asked that I helped him with some of the mathematical operations which I gladly obliged. Although I never did any major research on the scheme myself, but I find it enthralling.
Synchronization has find application in various fields and continues to gain interest from scientists and engineers alike.
Theoretical physicist have used the concept of synchronization to achieve coupling of two or more system in schemes such as complete synchronization, phase synchronization, lag synchronization, generalized synchronization and time-scale synchronization.
Synchronization schemes has also been used in electronic circuit used to generate radio-frequency power, lasers and many other oscillating chemical reactions, pacemaker (Sino-atrial nodes) of human hearts as well as artificial pacemakers used in cardiac pathologies.
This synchronization scheme can be viewed as a unidirectional scheme in that living system has no influence on the movement (rotation/revolution)of planets and celestial bodies (if you believe on the influence of the latter on living system) and yet they influence living systems.
[image credits: Wikimedia commons under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International license]
The word synchronous is gotten from Greek word synkhronizein which means time and common. Therefore, synchronization means sharing common time or occurring at the same time. Are you thinking about such events that occur at the same time?
One of the earliest scientist to talk about synchronization was Christian Huygen, in 1665. Huygen discovered that two clocks placed side by side and hanging on weak beam after some time starts to exhibit synchronous movement. These clocks are said to exhibit mutual synchronization and in modern terminology, the two clocks were in anti-phase synchronization which is as a result of the coupling through the common beam holding them in place.
Synchronization phenomenon has gained adverse application in so many areas. Notably, the triode generator which has become fundamental to radio communication systems is synchronized by allowing frequency of a powerful generator to be driven with the help of a weak, but very precise one.
[image credits: Wikimedia commons under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Unported license]
It may be tempting to think of synchronization as a form of resonance. Well, I want you to know that synchronization is not merely resonance in any way. Let me explain this. Resonance can occur in any oscillating system where another system is used to sustain its oscillation. That means the system is not self-sustained.
Synchronous variation should not also be confused with synchronization. Synchronization is mainly applicable to systems that are decomposable and not applicable the ones that are not. An example of non-decomposable system is hare and lynx population data for predator-prey system.
Also, synchronous motion should not be confused with synchronization. These two can sometimes be different form each other. For example, consider a situation where two pendulum clocks are connected mechanically via a rigid link, one which establishes a strong coupling between the clocks. If eventually one of the clocks stops or the pendula moves synchronously, it will not be regarded as synchronization due to the existence of the strong coupling which place a restriction on the motion of the system thereby can be regarded as non-decomposable.
Vaguely, what I am saying in essence is that the coupling of the two systems should not be such that it has the ability to change the behavior of the systems involved or deprive them of their properties which makes them individual and not a single system.
[image:penguin coordination credits: Pixabay:CC0 Public Domain]
In summary, synchronization of two systems is said to be achieved if the two systems are self-sustaining oscillators such that they are capable of existing on their own and generating their own rhythm. The system adjusts their individual rhythm due to weak coupling and not strong coupling which may enforce a restriction on their individuality.
It is also important to note that synchronization is to be seen a process (a complex dynamical process) and not a state of systems.
Synchronization has become an everyday language in nonlinear science and has find application in various nonlinear systems theoretically and physicists are working extensively to produce what has been achieved in theory in real systems.
References
Arkady Pikovsky, Michael Rosenblum and Jurgen Kurths Synchronization: A Universal Concept in Nonlinear Sciences. Cambridge nonlinear series 12.
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