We study the noise effects in a driven system of globally coupled
oscillators, with particular attention to the interplay between driving and
noise. The self-consistency equation for the order parameter, which measures
the collective synchronization of the system, is derived; it is found that the
total order parameter decreases monotonically with noise, indicating overall
suppression of synchronization. Still, for large coupling strengths, there
exists an optimal noise level at which the periodic (ac) component of the order
parameter reaches its maximum. The response of the phase velocity is also
examined and found to display resonance behavior.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure