Two-well system under large amplitude periodic forcing: stochastic synchronization, stochastic resonance and stability

Abstract

We study the residence time distributions and explore the possibility of observing stochastic resonance and synchronization of passages in a two-well system driven by a periodic forcing of amplitude larger than a marginal value beyond which one of the two wells become unstable and disappear. We define and calculate hysteresis loop in the system, the area of which measures the degree of synchronization between the residence time statistics and the input signal, as a function of input noise strength. We analyse the noise induced stability obtained in such a deterministically overall unstable system and within this context discuss the above two phenomena.