Motion-induced synchronization in metapopulations of mobile agents

We study the influence of motion on the emergence of synchronization in a metapopulation of random walkers moving on a heterogeneous network and subject to Kuramoto interactions at the network nodes. We discover a mechanism of transition to macroscopic dynamical order induced by the walkers' motion. Furthermore, we observe two different microscopic paths to synchronization: depending on the rule of the motion, either low-degree nodes or the hubs drive the whole system towards synchronization. We provide analytical arguments to understand these results. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.87.032814