title: Nucleation of breathers via stochastic resonance in nonlinear lattices.
abstract: By applying a staggered driving force in a prototypical discrete model with a quartic nonlinearity, we demonstrate the spontaneous formation and destruction of discrete breathers with a selected frequency due to thermal fluctuations. The phenomenon exhibits the striking features of stochastic resonance: a nonmonotonic behavior as noise is increased and breather generation under subthreshold conditions. The corresponding peak is associated with a matching between the external driving frequency and the breather frequency at the average energy given by ambient temperature.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física Aplicada I, EUP, Universidad de Sevilla, 41011 Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cubero
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cuevas
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Kevrekidis