Subthreshold stochastic resonance: rectangular signals can cause anomalous large gains

Nonlinear effects of nanoparticles: biological variability from hormetic doses, small particle sizes, and dynamic adaptive interactions

Researchers are increasingly focused on the nanoscale level of organization where biological processes take place in living systems. Nanoparticles (NPs, e.g., 1-100 nm diameter) are small forms of natural or manufactured source material whose properties differ markedly from those of the respective bulk forms of the "same" material. Certain NPs have diagnostic and therapeutic uses; some NPs exhibit low-dose toxicity; other NPs show ability to stimulate low-dose adaptive responses (hormesis). Beyond dose, size, shape, and surface charge variations of NPs evoke nonlinear responses in complex adaptive systems. NPs acquire unique size-dependent biological, chemical, thermal, optical, electromagnetic, and atom-like quantum properties. Nanoparticles exhibit high surface adsorptive capacity for other substances, enhanced bioavailability, and ability to cross otherwise impermeable cell membranes including the blood-brain barrier. With super-potent effects, nano-forms can evoke cellular stress responses or therapeutic effects not only at lower doses than their bulk forms, but also for longer periods of time. Interactions of initial effects and compensatory systemic responses can alter the impact of NPs over time. Taken together, the data suggest the need to downshift the dose-response curve of NPs from that for bulk forms in order to identify the necessarily decreased no-observed-adverse-effect-level and hormetic dose range for nanoparticles.

Improving the detection sensitivity of chromatography by stochastic resonance

This review aims to provide readers with an overview of various methodologies and approaches used to improve sensitivity through stochastic resonance (SR) methods, with special emphasis on applications to improve the detectability of analytes in chromatographic signals.

Generalized Langevin equation with multiplicative noise: temporal behavior of the autocorrelation functions

The temporal behavior of the mean-square displacement and the velocity autocorrelation function of a particle subjected to a periodic force in a harmonic potential well is investigated for viscoelastic media using the generalized Langevin equation. The interaction with fluctuations of environmental parameters is modeled by a multiplicative white noise, by an internal Mittag-Leffler noise with a finite memory time, and by an additive external noise. It is shown that the presence of a multiplicative noise has a profound effect on the behavior of the autocorrelation functions. Particularly, for correlation functions the model predicts a crossover between two different asymptotic power-law regimes. Moreover, a dependence of the correlation function on the frequency of the external periodic forcing occurs that gives a simple criterion to discern the multiplicative noise in future experiments. It is established that additive external and internal noises cause qualitatively different dependences of the autocorrelation functions on the external forcing and also on the time lag. The influence of the memory time of the internal noise on the dynamics of the system is also discussed.

Memory-enhanced energetic stability for a fractional oscillator with fluctuating frequency

The long-time limit behavior of the variance and the correlation function for the output signal of a fractional oscillator with fluctuating eigenfrequency subjected to a periodic force is considered. The influence of a fluctuating environment is modeled by a multiplicative white noise and by an additive noise with a zero mean. The viscoelastic-type friction kernel with memory is assumed as a power-law function of time. The exact expressions of stochastic resonance (SR) characteristics such as variance and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) have been calculated. It is shown that at intermediate values of the memory exponent the energetic stability of the oscillator is significantly enhanced in comparison with the cases of strong and low memory. A multiresonancelike behavior of the variance and SNR as functions of the memory exponent is observed and a connection between this effect and the memory-induced enhancement of energetic stability is established. The effect of memory-induced energetic stability encountered in case the harmonic potential is absent, is also discussed.

Constructive influence of noise flatness and friction on the resonant behavior of a harmonic oscillator with fluctuating frequency

The influences of noise flatness and friction coefficient on the long-time behavior of the first two moments and the correlation function for the output signal of a harmonic oscillator with fluctuating frequency subjected to an external periodic force are considered. The colored fluctuations of the oscillator frequency are modeled as a trichotomous noise. The study is a follow up of the previous investigation of a stochastic oscillator [Phys. Rev. E 78, 031120 (2008)], where the connection between the occurrence of energetic instability and stochastic multiresonance is established. Here we report some unexpected results not considered in the previous work. Notably, we have found a nonmonotonic dependence of several stochastic resonance characteristics such as spectral amplification, variance of the output signal, and signal-to-noise ratio on the friction coefficient and on the noise flatness. In particular, in certain parameter regions spectral amplification exhibits a resonancelike enhancement at intermediate values of the friction coefficient.

Stochastic multiresonance and correlation-time-controlled stability for a harmonic oscillator with fluctuating frequency

The long-time behavior of the first two moments and the correlation function for the output signal of a harmonic oscillator with fluctuating frequency subjected to an external periodic force and an additive thermal noise is considered analytically. The colored fluctuations of the oscillator frequency are modeled as a three-level Markovian noise. Using the Shapiro-Loginov formula, the exact expressions of several stochastic resonance (SR) characteristics such as the spectral amplification, the variance of the output signal, the signal-to-noise ratio, and the SR gain have been calculated. The nonmonotonic dependence of the SR characteristics versus the noise parameters as well as versus the input signal frequency and also the conditions for the appearance of energetic instability are analyzed. In particular, the multiresonancelike behavior of the variance and the signal-to-noise ratio as functions of the noise correlation time are observed and the connection between the occurrence of energetic instability and the phenomenon of stochastic multiresonance is established. Some unexpected effects such as the hypersensitive response of the spectral amplification to small variations of the noise amplitude encountered in the case of a large flatness of the colored noise are also discussed.

Role of fluctuations in the response of coupled bistable units to weak time-periodic driving forces

We analyze the stochastic response of a finite set of globally coupled noisy bistable units driven by rather weak time-periodic forces. We focus on the stochastic resonance and phase frequency synchronization of the collective variable, defined as the arithmetic mean of the variable characterizing each element of the array. For single-unit systems, stochastic resonance can be understood with the powerful tools of linear response theory. Proper noise-induced phase frequency synchronization for a single-unit system in this linear response regime does not exist. For coupled arrays, our numerical simulations indicate an enhancement of the stochastic resonance effects leading to gains larger than unity as well as genuine phase frequency synchronization. The nonmonotonicity of the response with the strength of the coupling strength is investigated. Comparison with simplifying schemes proposed in the literature to describe the random response of the collective variable is carried out.

Quantifying stochastic resonance: theory versus experiment

We discuss different quantifiers of stochastic resonance (SR) and how far they are mathematically related with each other. Specifically, we address bona fide SR in terms of the areas of the hysteresis loops and of the first peaks in the residence time distributions. We demonstrate a surprisingly good agreement of these two SR quantifiers experimentally for colloidal particles in periodically modulated laser traps. A simple theoretical model is established, which reproduces the experimental observations very well.

Stochastic resonance: theory and numerics

We address the phenomenon of stochastic resonance in a noisy bistable system driven by a time-dependent periodic force (not necessarily sinusoidal) and in its two-state approximation. Even for driving forces with subthreshold amplitudes, the behavior of the system response might require a nonlinear description. We introduce analytical and numerical tools to analyze the power spectral amplification and the signal-to-noise ratio in a nonlinear regime. Our analysis shows the importance of the effects of the driving force on the system fluctuations in a nonlinear regime. These effects can be usefully exploited to achieve high quality output signals with gains larger than unity, which is impossible within a linear regime.

Nonlinear stochastic resonance with subthreshold rectangular pulses

We analyze the phenomenon of nonlinear stochastic resonance (SR) in noisy bistable systems driven by pulsed time periodic forces. The driving force contains, within each period, two pulses of equal constant amplitude and duration but opposite signs. Each pulse starts every half period and its duration is varied. For subthreshold amplitudes, we study the dependence of the output signal-to-noise ratio and the SR gain on the noise strength and the relative duration of the pulses. We find that the SR gains can reach values larger than unity, with maximum values showing a nonmonotonic dependence on the duration of the pulses.