STOCHASTIC RESONANCE IN A BROWNIAN RATCHET

Abstract

We present evidence to support the idea that Stochastic Resonance (SR) and Brownian Ratchets (BR) share underlying physical principles. We examine the special case of a discrete-time ratchet, called Parrondo's games, and show that the addition of noise increases the rate of flow in the ratchet up to a certain point, after which the addition of further noise causes the rate of flow of decrease. We argue that the rate of flow of particles in a BR is analogous to the rate of flow of information in the case of SR.