  The occurrence of abrupt dynamical transitions in the macroscopic state of a
system has received growing attention. We present experimental evidence for
abrupt transition via explosive synchronization in a real-world complex system,
namely a turbulent reactive flow system. In contrast to the paradigmatic
continuous transition to a synchronized state from an initially desynchronized
state, the system exhibits a discontinuous synchronization transition with a
hysteresis. We consider the fluctuating heat release rate from the turbulent
flames at each spatial location as locally coupled oscillators that are coupled
to the global acoustic field in the confined system. We analyze the
synchronization between these two subsystems during the transition to a state
of oscillatory instability and discover that explosive synchronization occurs
at the onset of oscillatory instability. Further, we explore the underlying
mechanism of interaction between the subsystems and construct a mathematical
model of the same.
