Effects of time delay on transient behavior of a time-delayed metastable system subjected to cross-correlated noises

The effects of time delay on the transient properties of a time-delayed metastable system subjected to cross-correlated noises are studied by means of a stochastic simulation method. It is found that: (i) Both additive noise and multiplicative noise can produce the noise enhanced stability (NES) effect; (ii) The time delay induces critical behavior on the NES, i.e., there is a critical value of the delay time tau(c1) approximate to 2.2, above which the time delay increases the stability of the system enhanced by the additive noise, and below which the NES effect induced by the additive noise disappears; (iii) There exists another critical value of the delay time tau(c2) approximate to 3.0, above which the time delay increases the stability of the system enhanced by the multiplicative noise and below which the time delay decreases it. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.