Frequency enhancement in coupled noisy excitable elements

Oscillatory dynamics of coupled excitable FitzHugh-Nagumo elements in the presence of noise is investigated as a function of the coupling strength g. For two such coupled elements, their frequencies are enhanced and will synchronize at a frequency higher than the uncoupled frequencies of each element. As g increases, there is an unexpected peak in the frequency enhancement before reaching synchronization. The results can be understood with an analytic model based on the excitation across a potential barrier whose height is controlled by g. Simulation results of a coupled square lattice can quantitatively reproduce the unexpected peak in the variation of the beating rates observed in cultured cardiac cells experiments.