Abstract

We explore the synchronization and switching behavior of a system of two identical van der Pol oscillators coupled by a stochastically timevarying resistor. Triggered by the time-varying resistor, the system of oscillators switches between synchronized and anti-synchronized behavior. We find that the preference of the synchronized/antisynchronized state is determined by the ratio of the probabilities of the two resistor states. The length of the phases of maintained resistor states, however, has not a decisive role in the process, since the switching is triggered, on average, with very short latency.