as a function of Ω with
K held constant at
K = 1 For small to intermediate values of
K (that is, in the range of
K = 0 to about
K = 1), and certain values of Ω, the map exhibits a phenomenon called
mode locking or
phase locking. In a phase-locked region, the values
θn advance essentially as a
rational multiple of
n, although they may do so chaotically on the small scale. The limiting behavior in the mode-locked regions is given by the
rotation number. :\omega=\lim_{n\to\infty}\frac{\theta_n}{n}. which is also sometimes referred to as the map
winding number. The phase-locked regions, or Arnold tongues, are illustrated in yellow in the figure to the right. Each such V-shaped region touches down to a rational value Ω = in the limit of
K → 0. The values of (
K,Ω) in one of these regions will all result in a motion such that the rotation number
ω = . For example, all values of (
K,Ω) in the large V-shaped region in the bottom-center of the figure correspond to a rotation number of
ω = . One reason the term "locking" is used is that the individual values
θn can be perturbed by rather large random disturbances (up to the width of the tongue, for a given value of
K), without disturbing the limiting rotation number. That is, the sequence stays "locked on" to the signal, despite the addition of significant noise to the series
θn. This ability to "lock on" in the presence of noise is central to the utility of the phase-locked loop electronic circuit. There is a mode-locked region for every rational number . It is sometimes said that the circle map maps the rationals, a set of
measure zero at
K = 0, to a set of non-zero measure for
K ≠ 0. The largest tongues, ordered by size, occur at the
Farey fractions. Fixing
K and taking a cross-section through this image, so that
ω is plotted as a function of Ω, gives the "Devil's staircase", a shape that is generically similar to the
Cantor function. One can show that for
K1 this holds no longer, and one can find regions of two overlapping locking regions. For the circle map it can be shown that in this region, no more than two stable mode locking regions can overlap, but if there is any limit to the number of overlapping Arnold tongues for general synchronised systems is not known. The circle map also exhibits
subharmonic routes to chaos, that is, period doubling of the form 3, 6, 12, 24,.... ==Chirikov standard map==