Self-induced stochastic resonance in excitable systems

The effect of small-amplitude noise on excitable systems with strong time-scale separation is analyzed. It is found that vanishingly small random perturbations of the fast excitatory variable may result in the onset of a deterministic limit cycle behavior, absent without noise. The mechanism, termed self-induced stochastic resonance, combines a stochastic resonance-type phenomenon with an intrinsic mechanism of reset, and no periodic drive of the system is required. Self-induced stochastic resonance is different from other types of noise-induced coherent behaviors in that it arises away from bifurcation thresholds, in a parameter regime where the zero-noise (deterministic) dynamics does not display a limit cycle nor even its precursor. The period of the limit cycle created by the noise has a non-trivial dependence on the noise amplitude and the time-scale ratio between fast excitatory variables and slow recovery variables. It is argued that self-induced stochastic resonance may offer one possible scenario of how noise can robustly control the function of biological systems.