Coherence resonance in a washboard potential

In this Letter, the first two moments of the distribution of first passage times between two adjacent minima in a washboard potential are obtained numerically and the coherence of the noise-induced motion along the energy landscape is analyzed as a function of the noise intensity. It is shown that, although in this system the mobility does not present stochastic resonant behaviour, coherence can be enhanced by selecting a finite level of noise. The application of this model to describe random phase drifts in a neurobiological model is suggested. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.