Attractors with controllable basin sizes from cooperation of contracting and expanding dynamics in pulse-coupled oscillators

Unstable attractors are a novel type of attractor with local unstable dynamics, but with positive measures of basins. Here, we introduce local contracting dynamics by slightly modifying the function which mediates the interactions among the oscillators. Thus, the property of unstable attractors can be controlled through the cooperation of expanding and contracting dynamics. We demonstrate that one certain type of unstable attractor is successfully controlled through this simple modification. Specifically, the staying time for unstable attractors can be prolonged, and we can even turn the unstable attractors into stable attractors with predictable basin sizes. As an application, we demonstrate how to realize the switching dynamics that is only sensitive to the finite size perturbations.