Transition to amplitude death in scale-free networks

Transition to amplitude death in scale-free networks of nonlinear oscillators is investigated both numerically and analytically. It is found that, as the coupling strength increases, the network will undergo three different stages in approaching the state of complete amplitude death (CAD). In the first stage of the transition, the amplitudes of the oscillators present a 'stair-like' arrangement, i.e. the squared amplitude of an oscillator linearly decreases with the number of links that the oscillator receives (node degree). In this stage, as the coupling strength increases, the amplitude stairs are eliminated hierarchically by descending order of the node degree. At the end of the first stage, except for a few synchronized oscillators, all other oscillators in the network have small amplitudes. Then, in the second stage of the transition, the synchronous clusters formed in the first stage gradually disappear and, as a consequence, the number of small-amplitude oscillators is increased. At the end of the second stage, almost all oscillators in the network have small but finite amplitudes. Finally, in the third stage of the transition, without the support of the synchronous clusters, the amplitudes of the oscillators are quickly decreased, eventually leading to the state of CAD.