D Cubero, J Cuevas and PG Kevrekidis (pdf copy 909 Kb.)
By applying a staggered driving force in a prototypical discrete model with a quartic nonlinearity, we demonstrate the pontaneous formation and destruction of discrete breathers with a selected frequency due to thermal fluctuations. The phenomenon exhibits the striking features of stochastic resonance (SR): 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.
Physical Review Letters 102:205505, May 2009, doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.205505