Rhythmic behavior in a two-population mean-field Ising model

Many real systems composed of a large number of interacting components, as, for instance, neural networks, may exhibit collective periodic behavior even though single components have no natural tendency to behave periodically. Macroscopic oscillations are indeed one of the most common self-organized behavior observed in living systems. In the present paper we study some dynamical features of a two-population generalization of the mean-field Ising model with the scope of investigating simple mechanisms capable to generate rhythms in large groups of interacting individuals. We show that the system may undergo a transition from a disordered phase, where the magnetization of each population fluctuates closely around zero, to a phase in which they both display a macroscopic regular rhythm. In particular, there exists a region in the parameter space where having two groups of spins with inter- and intrapopulation interactions of different strengths suffices for the emergence of a robust periodic behavior.