Explosive synchronization induced by traffic processes in complex networks

An abundance of studies on synchronization focus on the characteristics of synchronization itself, but ignore the guiding role of information transfer between dynamic units on the synchronization process. In reality, continuous interactions between dynamic units are costly and sometimes unnecessary. Here we perform both traffic and synchronization processes in the same network and propose a model based on a constant-density traffic. Each node delivers packets with preference according to frequency mismatch and degree, and its synchronization behavior is only determined by the received packets. Explosive synchronization (ES) can be induced in both heterogeneous and homogeneous networks, as well as in both symmetric and asymmetric frequency distributions. We have concluded that the correlation between the average reception degree and the natural frequency is a key feature for the emergence of ES. Furthermore, at different packet densities, the forward and backward critical couplings and the width of the hysteretic loop in ES all exhibit nonmonotonic behavior and have minimum values. ES can still appear even if the packet density is very low. (paper)