title: Phase velocity and phase diffusion in periodically driven discrete-state systems.
abstract: We develop a theory to calculate the effective phase diffusion coefficient and the mean phase velocity in periodically driven stochastic models with two discrete states. This theory is applied to a dichotomically driven Markovian two-state system. Explicit expressions for the mean phase velocity, the effective phase diffusion coefficient, and the Pe clet number are analytically calculated. The latter indicates as a measure of phase-coherence forced synchronization of the stochastic system with respect to the periodic driving and exhibits a "bona fide" resonance. In a second step, the theory is applied to a non-Markovian two-state system modeling excitable systems. The results prove again stochastic synchronization to the periodic driving and are in good agreement with simulations of a stochastic FitzHugh-Nagumo system.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physics, Humboldt-University of Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Prager
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schimansky-Geier