PERIODIC MODULATION INDUCED INCREASE OF REACTION-RATES IN AUTOCATALYTIC SYSTEMS

We propose a new mechanism to increase the reactions rates ill multist able autocatalytic systems. The mechanism is based upon the possibilit y for the enhancement of the response of the system due to the coopera tive behavior between the noise and an external periodic modulation. I n order to illustrate this feature we compute the reaction velocities for the particular case of the Sel'Kov model, showing that they increa se significantly when the periodic modulation is introduced. This beha vior originates from the existence of a minimum in the mean first pass age time, one of the signatures of stochastic resonance. (C) 1998 Amer ican Institute of Physics.