Phase synchronization of fish schools through spatial gaps
Abstract
We investigate how sensory coupling mediates phase coherence between spatially separated, confined active systems. Using two fish schools separated by a water-filled transparent gap, we isolate vision as the primary interaction channel. Under boundary confinement, each school's center-of-mass heading exhibits noisy bistable dynamics, spontaneously switching between two antiparallel directions along the partition wall. Turning events in one school bias the orientation of the other, driving distance-dependent phase synchronization. We model this behavior using two coupled stochastic bistable oscillators whose exact solution quantitatively reproduces the empirical results. Our work establishes a precise connection between nonequilibrium active systems and coupled stochastic oscillators, offering insight into boundary-spanning information transfer in living collectives.
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BibTeX
@misc{lamo2026phase,
title = {{Phase synchronization of fish schools through spatial gaps}},
author = {Elena G. de Lamo and Óscar Sánchez and M. Carmen Miguel and Romualdo Pastor-Satorras},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.01754},
eprint = {2609.01754},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.01754},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Phase synchronization of fish schools through spatial gaps
AU - Elena G. de Lamo
AU - Óscar Sánchez
AU - M. Carmen Miguel
AU - Romualdo Pastor-Satorras
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.01754
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.01754
AB - We investigate how sensory coupling mediates phase coherence between spatially separated, confined active systems. Using two fish schools separated by a water-filled transparent gap, we isolate vision as the primary interaction channel. Under boundary confinement, each school's center-of-mass heading exhibits noisy bistable dynamics, spontaneously switching between two antiparallel directions along the partition wall. Turning events in one school bias the orientation of the other, driving distance-dependent phase synchronization. We model this behavior using two coupled stochastic bistable oscillators whose exact solution quantitatively reproduces the empirical results. Our work establishes a precise connection between nonequilibrium active systems and coupled stochastic oscillators, offering insight into boundary-spanning information transfer in living collectives.
ER -