Vibrational resonance and vibrational propagation in excitable systems

We report the occurrence of vibrational resonance in excitable systems. Namely, we show that an optimal amplitude of the high-frequency driving enhances the response of an excitable system to a low-frequency signal. The phenomenon is confirmed in an excitable electronic circuit and in the FitzHugh-Nagumo model. In this last case we also analyze the influence of additive noise and the interplay between stochastic and vibrational resonance. Additionally, we show that this effect can be extended to spatially extended excitable media, taking the form of an enhanced propagation of the low-frequency signal. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.