Detection of coupling between oscillators from their short time series: Condition of applicability of the method of phase dynamics modeling

One of the most sensitive methods for determining the presence and character of coupling between two oscillators is based on the modeling of their phase dynamics. This method is applicable if the observed oscillations are not synchronous and the length of available time series is no less than 50 characteristic periods. Now it is established that the method can be applied to still shorter time series with a length of 20 to 50 periods, provided that the estimated phase coherence coefficient (measuring the degree of synchronization) does not exceed a certain threshold dependent on the time series length and the frequency detuning. This result expands the possibilities of detecting the coupling between oscillatory systems under conditions of nonstationary signals and deficient data.