Quotes About Oscillators

Winfree wrote equations for his system of oscillators, describing how fast each one moves through its cycle. At any instant, an oscillator's speed is determined by three contributions: its preferred pace, which is proportional to its natural frequency; its current sensitivity to any incoming influences (which depends on where it is in its cycle); and the total influence exerted by all the other oscillators (which depends on where they all are in their cycles).

pack and a disorganized band of fringe oscillators. When the system was self-synchronizing, Winfree found that no oscillator was indispensable. There was no boss. Any oscillator could be removed and the process would still work.

The equations showed that the answer depends on how similar the oscillators are. If they're identical, or nearly so, I found that the disturbances grow exponentially fast as oscillators clump together in phase, in an embryonic form of sync. Then out popped a formula for the exponential growth rate (analogous to the interest rate for how fast your money compounds in the bank). No one had ever found such a formula before.