Theory 07/Collective behaviour
Synchrony Is Coupling Against Spread
The claim
Firefly synchrony emerges only when the ratio of coupling strength to frequency dispersion exceeds a threshold, so a population of well-coupled but variable fireflies stays asynchronous.
01Mechanism
Each flash nudges neighbours' phases; dispersion pulls them apart, and the balance determines whether a common phase wins.
02Predictions
- P1Synchrony should appear above a coupling ratio.
- P2Population density alone should mispredict.
03Refutation
Synchrony tracking density would remove frequency dispersion.
04Why it resists the grid
The phenomenon is neither an individual behaviour nor a population statistic; it exists only in the coupling.