Diffusivity dependence of the transition path ensemble

2022/03/24 by Lukas Kikuchi, Kikuchi, Lukas, R. Adhikari +3
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #FOS: Physical sciences #Markov Chains and Monte Carlo Methods #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech) #Stochastic processes and statistical mechanics

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2203.12947

openalex publication_date 2022/03/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Transition pathways of stochastic dynamical systems are typically approximated by instantons. Here we show, using a dynamical system containing two competing pathways, that at low-to-intermediate temperatures, instantons can fail to capture the most likely transition pathways. We construct an approximation which includes fluctuations around the instanton and, by comparing with the results of an accurate and efficient path-space Monte Carlo sampling method, find this approximation to hold for a wide range of temperatures. Our work delimits the applicability of large deviation theory and provides methods to probe these limits numerically.

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