Temporality-induced chaos in the Kuramoto Model

Switched dynamical systems have been extensively studied in engineering literature in the context of system control. In these systems, the dynamical laws change between different subsystems depending on the environment, a process that is known to produce emergent behaviors---notably chaos. These dynamics are analogous to those of temporal networks, in which the network topology changes over time, thereby altering the dynamics on the network. It stands to reason that temporal networks may therefore produce emergent chaos and other exotic behaviors unanticipated in static networks, yet concrete examples remain elusive. Here, we present a minimal example of a networked system in which temporality produces chaotic dynamics not possible in any static subnetwork alone. Specifically, we consider a variant of the famous Kuramoto model, in which the network topology alternates between different configurations in response to the phase dynamics. We show under certain conditions this can produce a strange attractor, and we verify the presence of chaos by analyzing its geometrical properties. Our results provide new insights on the consequences of temporality for network dynamics, and acts as a proof of concept for a novel mechanism behind generating chaotic dynamics in networks.