A condition for the synchronizability of a pair of extended systems governed by partial differential equations (PDEs), coupled through a finite set of variables, is commonly the existence of internal synchronization or internal coherence in each system separately. The condition was previously illustrated in a forced-dissipative system and is here extended to Hamiltonian systems using an example from particle physics. Full synchronization is precluded by Liouville’s theorem. A form of synchronization weaker than “measure synchronization” is manifest as the positional coincidence of coherent oscillations (“breathers” or “oscillons”) in a pair of coupled scalar field models in an expanding universe with a nonlinear potential, and does not occur with a variant of the model that does not exhibit oscillons.

• Received 14 January 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.80.015202