Noise-sustained synchronization of electrically coupled FitzHugh–Nagumo networks under counterphase external forcing

Abstract

We study the stochastic dynamics of two electrically coupled networks of excitable FitzHugh–Nagumo cells, each of them phase-repulsively linked to form a ring able to develop noise-sustained structures. All cells are submitted to Gaussian white noises with common intensity η, while each network is forced with opposite phase by an adiabatic subthreshold harmonic signal. In terms of the nonequilibrium potential of a four-cell reduced model we have interpreted the dynamics, explained the observed activation and synchronization of the structures, and calculated the optimal η level as a function of coupling strength between networks. The values obtained from the reduced model coincide in order of magnitude with those arising from numerical simulations of the full system.