Cost and effect of pinning control for network synchronization

The problem of pinning control for the synchronization of complex dynamical networks is discussed in this paper. A cost function of the controlled network is defined by the feedback gain and the coupling strength of the network. An interesting result is that a lower cost is achieved by using the control scheme of pinning nodes with smaller degrees. Some strict mathematical analyses are presented for achieving a lower cost in the synchronization of different star-shaped networks. Numerical simulations on some non-regular complex networks generated by the Barabási--Albert model and various star-shaped networks are performed for verification and illustration.