Synchronizing the Smallest Possible System

Abstract

We investigate the minimal Hilbert-space dimension for a system to be synchronized. We first show that qubits cannot be synchronized due to the lack of a limit cycle. Moving to larger spin values, we demonstrate that a single spin 1 can be phase locked to a weak external signal of similar frequency and exhibits all the standard features of the theory of synchronization. Our findings rely on the Husimi Q representation based on spin coherent states which we propose as a tool to obtain a phase portrait.