title: Noise accelerates synchronization of coupled nonlinear oscillators.
abstract: For a chain of homogeneous nonlinear oscillators starting from different initial phases, a certain amount of time is required for the system to evolve to complete phase synchronization. The effect of independent noise in such a system was investigated, and an optimal noise intensity was found that minimized the average synchronization time. Both threshold noise and connection noise show similar effects. The features of the phenomenon and the underlying mechanism are discussed through the analysis of a two-unit system and the numerical studies of chains up to 30 units in length.
authors.affiliation: School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chik
authors.forename: Adelle
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coster