Synchronization and phase transition of two-dimensional self-rotating clock models (opens in new tab)

arXiv:2601.22840v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: We explore possible synchronization in two-dimensional (2D) locally coupled discrete-state oscillators under thermal fluctuations, using the self-rotating $q$-state clock model as a prototype. Large-scale Monte Carlo simulations reveal that for $q \ge q_c$ (with $q_c = 5$), the system undergoes two-step Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transitions: first from a disordered phase to a critical synchronized phase, and then to a spatiotemporal...