Synchronization to extreme events in moving agents

Interactions amongst agents frequently exist only at particular moments in time, depending on their closeness in space and movement parameters. Here we propose a minimal model of moving agents where the network of contacts changes over time due to their motion. In particular, agents interact based on their proximity in a two-dimensional space, but only if they belong to the same fixed interaction zones. Our research reveals the emergence of global synchronization if all the interaction zones are attractive. However, if some of the interaction zones are repulsive, they deflect synchrony and lead to short-lasting but recurrent deviations that constitute extreme events in the network. We use two paradigmatic oscillators for the description of the agent dynamics to demonstrate our findings numerically, and we also provide an analytical formulation to describe the emergence of complete synchrony and the thresholds that distinguish extreme events from other intermittent states based on the peak-over-threshold approach.