ENHANCEMENT OF STOCHASTIC RESONANCE IN SPATIALLY EXTENDED SYSTEMS BY MEANS OF DELAYED COUPLING

Abstract

Stochastic resonance in a chain of coupled threshold elements driven by a spatiotemporal periodic signal and noise is studied. It is shown that stochastic resonance can be enhanced for a fixed coupling strength by introducing proper time delays in the coupling terms which balance the effect of the phase difference between the periodic signals at the input of the interacting elements. Hence, in spatially extended systems driven by spatiotemporal periodic signals, stochastic resonance can be controlled by a delayed coupling. This method of controlling stochastic resonance is robust against random perturbations of the periodicity of the input signal and of the individual time delays.