System size stochastic resonance: General nonequilibrium potential framework

We study the phenomenon of system size stochastic resonance within the nonequilibrium potential framework. We analyze three different cases of spatially extended systems, exploiting the knowledge of their nonequilibrium potential, showing that through the analysis of that potential we can obtain a clear physical interpretation of this phenomenon in wide classes of extended systems. Depending on the characteristics of the system, the phenomenon is associated with a breaking of the symmetry of the nonequilibrium potential or a deepening of the potential minima yielding an effective scaling of the noise intensity with the system size.