Chimera states in a Duffing oscillators chain coupled to nearest neighbors

Coupled nonlinear oscillators can present complex spatiotemporal behaviors. Here, we report the coexistence of coherent and incoherent domains, called chimera states, in an array of identical Duffing oscillators coupled to their nearest neighbors. The chimera states show a significant variation of amplitude in the desynchronized domain. These intriguing states are observed in the bistability region between a homogeneous state and a spatiotemporal chaotic one. These dynamical behaviors are characterized by their Lyapunov spectra and their global phase coherence order parameter. The local coupling between oscillators prevents one domain from invading the other one. Depending on initial conditions, a family of chimera states appear, organized in a snaking-like diagram. Published by AIP Publishing.