A common lag scenario in quenching of oscillation in coupled oscillators.

A large parameter mismatch can induce amplitude death in two instantaneously coupled oscillators. Alternatively, a time delay in the coupling can induce amplitude death in two identical oscillators. We unify the mechanism of quenching of oscillation in coupled oscillators, either by a large parameter mismatch or a delay coupling, by a common lag scenario that is, surprisingly, different from the conventional lag synchronization. We present numerical as well as experimental evidence of this unknown kind of lag scenario when the lag increases with coupling and at a critically large value at a critical coupling strength, amplitude death emerges in two largely mismatched oscillators. This is analogous to amplitude death in identical systems with increasingly large coupling delay. In support, we use examples of the Chua oscillator and the Bonhoeffer-van der Pol system. Furthermore, we confirm this lag scenario during the onset of amplitude death in identical Stuart-Landau system under various instantaneous coupling forms, repulsive, conjugate, and a type of nonlinear coupling.