Escape Rates in Bistable Systems Induced by Quasi-Monochromatic Noise

摘要

Path integral techniques are used to understand the behaviour of a particlemoving in a bistable potential well and acted upon by quasi-monochromaticexternal noise. In the limit of small diffusion coefficient, a steepest descentevaluation of the path integral enables mean first passage times and thetransition times from one well to the other to be computed. The results andgeneral approach are compared with computer simulations of the process. It isfound that the bandwidth parameter, $Gamma$, has a critical value above whichparticle escape is by white-noise-like outbursts, but below which escape is byoscillatory type behaviour.