A new method of virtual unknown parameter is proposed to synchronize two different systems with unknown parameters and disturbance in finite time. Virtual unknown parameters are introduced in order to avoid the unknown parameters from appearing in th
e controllers and parameters update laws when the adaptive control method is applied. A single virtual unknown parameter is used in the design of adaptive controllers and parameters update laws if the Lipschitz constant on the nonlinear function can be found, while multiple virtual unknown parameters are adopted if the Lipschitz constant cannot be determined. Numerical simulations show that the present method does make the two different chaotic systems synchronize in finite time.
