Coupled oscillator models with no scale separation

We consider a class of spatially discrete wave equations that describe the motion of a system of linearly coupled oscillators perturbed by a nonlinear potential. We show that the dynamical behavior of this system cannot be understood by considering the slowest modes only: there is an “inverse cascade” in which the effects of changes in small scales are felt by the largest scales and the mean-field closure does not work. Despite this, a one and a half degree of freedom model is derived that includes the influence of the small-scale dynamics and predicts global conformational changes accurately. Thus, we provide a reduced model for a system in which there is no separation of scales. We analyze a specific coupled-oscillator system that models global conformation change in biomolecules, introduced in [I. Mezić, On the dynamics of molecular conformation, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 103 (20) (2006) 7542–7547]. In this model, the conformational states are stable to random perturbations, yet global conformation change can be quickly and robustly induced by the action of a targeted control. We study the efficiency of small-scale perturbations on conformational change and show that “zipper” traveling wave perturbations provide an efficient means for inducing such change. A visualization method for the transport barriers in the reduced model yields insight into the mechanism by which the conformation change occurs.