NOISE-ENHANCED MULTISTABILITY IN COUPLED OSCILLATOR-SYSTEMS

We study nonequilibrium phenomena in a globally coupled oscillator sys tem with a third harmonic pinning force in the presence of an additive noise and a fluctuating interaction. The system shows a subcritical s addle-node bifurcation from an asymmetric state to a symmetric state a t a critical noise intensity leading to multistable states. The fluctu ating interaction increases the critical noise intensity and thus enha nces the multistability drastically. We show phase diagrams and discus s the nature of the phase transition.