A tricky aspect of synchronisation: What happens when too many impulses jam the system?
Whenever people dance in groups, fish swim in shoals and neurons fire in unison, then there is a need for synchronicity. The world has plenty of these phenomena, many of which seem almost magical. Researchers are currently working on replicating this self-organised synchronisation for use in technical systems. Yet they come up against “deadlocks”, where the synchronisation process is jammed. A recent publication in Physical Review E explores new approaches to this tricky issue.