Eur. Phys. J. B 82, 179-187 (2011)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2011-20023-4

Arrays of noisy bistable elements with nearest neighbor coupling: equilibrium and stochastic resonance

Universidad de Sevilla, Facultad de Física, Área de Física Teórica, Apartado de Correos 1065, Sevilla, 41080, Spain

Corresponding author: ^a morillo@us.es

Received: 11 January 2011
Revised: 29 March 2011
Published online: 6 July 2011

Abstract

This work deals with finite arrays of bistable systems with nearest neighbor coupling. We focus on the statistical equilibrium of a collective variable, as well as its response to a weak time periodic perturbation. By means of numerical simulations we demonstrate the sharp contrast between the system behaviors depending on whether the coupling parameter is positive or negative. The stochastic resonance phenomenon is analyzed in terms of the power spectral amplification and the signal-to-noise ratio of the collective variable. Even though those quantifiers show the typical non-monotonic dependence on the noise strength, they lack, for negative coupling, the large enhancement which has been previously observed for arrays with positive coupling.