The incoherent state of the Kuramoto model has a uniform conditional phase density, , in the continuum population description. Its Kuramoto order parameter vanishes because : individual phases cancel even though the oscillators keep moving.
The mean-field coupling then vanishes, so a uniform density remains uniform while each frequency class rotates. This state must be retained separately when deriving a self-consistency equation by dividing by a nonzero order parameter. A finite random sample generally has a small nonzero empirical order parameter; this fluctuation is not a contradiction of the continuum definition.[ref]
Kuramoto self-consistency equation Created 2026-10-31 Updated 2026-11-05
Consider the continuum Kuramoto model with an even probability density function . Seek a stationary Kuramoto order parameter in a frame with . For , phase locking gives on the stable branch, so locked phase oscillators contribute
Drifting phase oscillators have stationary angular density proportional to . Their real contribution integrates to zero as a periodic logarithmic derivative; their imaginary contributions cancel between and .[ref]
Substitution and division by yield
The incoherent state of the Kuramoto model must be retained separately before division. If is continuous with , any nonzero stationary branch reaching at a finite coupling must satisfy
Indeed, the integral tends to . This limiting stationary calculation alone does not establish the branch's stability, its global existence, or the first instability of a multimodal frequency population.