Phase-induced stability in a parametric dimer - art. no. 036605

We report results on a model of two coupled oscillators that undergo period ic parametric modulations with a phase difference theta. Being to a large e xtent analytically solvable, the model reveals a rich theta dependence of t he regions of parametric resonance. In particular, the intuitive notion tha t antiphase modulations are less prone to parametric resonance is confirmed for sufficiently large coupling and damping. Some general results concerni ng synchronization properties in this system are presented. We also compare our results to a recently reported mean-field model of collective parametr ic instability, showing that the two-oscillator model captures much of the qualitative behavior of the infinite system.