Emergent hybrid synchronization in coupled chaotic systems

We evidence an interesting kind of hybrid synchronization in coupled chaotic systems where complete synchronization is restricted to only a subset of variables of two systems while other subset of variables may be in a phase synchronized state or desynchronized. Such hybrid synchronization is a generic emergent feature of coupled systems when a controller based coupling, designed by the Lyapunov function stability, is first engineered to induce complete synchronization in the identical case, and then a large parameter mismatch is introduced. We distinguish between two different hybrid synchronization regimes that emerge with parameter perturbation. The first, called hard hybrid synchronization, occurs when the coupled systems display global phase synchronization, while the second, called soft hybrid synchronization, corresponds to a situation where, instead, the global synchronization feature no longer exists. We verify the existence of both classes of hybrid synchronization in numerical examples of the Rossler system, a Lorenz-like system, and also in electronic experiment.