Noise-Activated Escape from a Sloshing Potential Well

2000/06/30 by Robert S. Maier, D. L. Stein · 3 citations
Environmental Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Ecosystem dynamics and resilience #cond-mat.stat-mech #stochastic dynamics and bifurcation

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.86.3942

published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 86 (2001) 3942 · 9 pages, no figures, REVTeX, expanded version

arxiv created 2000/08/02 · openalex publication_date 2001/04/30 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We treat the noise-activated escape from a one-dimensional potential well of an overdamped particle, to which a periodic force of fixed frequency is applied. Near the well top, the relevant length scales and the boundary layer structure are determined. We show how behavior near the well top generalizes the behavior determined by Kramers, in the case without forcing. Our analysis includes the case when the forcing does not die away in the weak-noise limit. We discuss the relevance of scaling regimes, defined by the relative strengths of the forcing and the noise, to recent optical trap experiments.

Cited by

• Low frequency limit for thermally activated escape with periodic driving
• Supernarrow Spectral Peaks near a Kinetic Phase Transition in a Driven Nonlinear Micromechanical Oscillator
• Scaling and crossovers in activated escape near a bifurcation point

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