Phase-delays shape multistability and basin sizes in Kuramoto networks: analytical estimates from network structure

We study how network connectivity and heterogeneous phase-delays shape the spatiotemporal dynamics of finite oscillator networks. Phase-delays can destabilize global synchronization and promote phase-locked patterns, including states with uniform phase gradients and more complex combinations of these modes. Yet, how connectivity and phase-delays jointly determine which states the network selects remains unclear. Here, we show that the spectrum of a composite matrix, which combines connectivity and phase-delays, governs not only the linear stability of the network's collective states but also their basin sizes. This, in turn, enables analytical estimates of basin size of phase-locked states for individual networks from connectivity and phase-delays alone. Applying this framework to nonlocal and global networks, including cases with random phase-delays, we uncover multistability and strong asymmetries in basin sizes, revealing chiral dynamics that conventional stability analysis cannot detect.