Hub-enhanced noise-sustained synchronization of an externally forced FitzHugh-Nagumo ring

A ring of FitzHugh-Nagumo units with antiphase coupling between their activator fields and submitted to a adiabatic harmonic subthreshold signal, is in turn globally coupled in electrical mode with the activator field of a hub. Noise sustained synchronization of neural activity with the signal is numerically observed, and theoretically characterized. The different dynamical regimes are elucidated using the concept of nonequilibrium potential, and the hub is found to promote network synchronization. The minimum noise intensities triggering the activation and synchronization processes are estimated in the framework of a three-neuron model.