  Networks of coupled nonlinear oscillators model a broad class of physical,
chemical and biological systems. Understanding emergent patterns in such
networks is an ongoing effort with profound implications for different fields.
In this work, we analytically and numerically study a symmetric ring of N
coupled self-oscillators of Van der Pol type under external stochastic forcing.
The system is proposed as a model of the thermo- and aeroacoustic interactions
of sound fields in rigid enclosures with compact source regions in a
can-annular combustor. The oscillators are connected via linear resistive
coupling with nonlinear saturation. After transforming the system to
amplitude-phase coordinates, deterministic and stochastic averaging is
performed to eliminate the fast oscillating terms. By projecting the potential
of the slow-flow dynamics onto the phase-locked quasi-limit cycle solutions, we
obtain a compact, low-order description of the (de-)synchronization transition
for an arbitrary number of oscillators. The stationary probability density
function of the state variables is derived from the Fokker--Planck equation,
studied for varying parameter values and compared to time series simulations.
We leverage our analysis to offer explanations for features of acoustic
pressure spectrograms observed in real-world gas turbines.
