  Synchronization is a widespread phenomenon observed in physical, biological,
and social networks, which persists even under the influence of strong noise.
Previous research on oscillators subject to common noise has shown that noise
can actually facilitate synchronization, as correlations in the dynamics can be
inherited from the noise itself. However, in many spatially distributed
networks, such as the mammalian circadian system, the noise that different
oscillators experience can be effectively uncorrelated. Here, we show that
uncorrelated noise can in fact enhance synchronization when the oscillators are
coupled. Strikingly, our analysis also shows that uncorrelated noise can be
more effective than common noise in enhancing synchronization. We first
establish these results theoretically for phase and phase-amplitude oscillators
subject to either or both additive and multiplicative noise. We then confirm
the predictions through experiments on coupled electrochemical oscillators. Our
findings suggest that uncorrelated noise can promote rather than inhibit
coherence in natural systems and that the same effect can be harnessed in
engineered systems.
