Are networks with more edges easier to synchronize, or not?

In this paper, the relationship between network synchronizability and the edge-addition of its associated graph is investigated. First, it is shown that adding one edge to a cycle definitely decreases the network synchronizability. Then, since sometimes the synchronizability can be enhanced by changing the network structure, the question of whether the networks with more edges are easier to synchronize is addressed. Based on a subgraph and complementary graph method, it is shown by examples that the answer is negative even if the network structure is arbitrarily optimized. This reveals that generally there are redundant edges in a network, which not only make no contributions to synchronization but actually may reduce the synchronizability. Moreover, a simple example shows that the node betweenness centrality is not always a good indicator for the network synchronizability. Finally, some more examples are presented to illustrate how the network synchronizability varies following the addition of edges, where all the examples show that the network synchronizability globally increases but locally fluctuates as the number of added edges increases. © 2009 Chin. Phys. Soc. and IOP Publishing Ltd.