Symmetry breaking of fluctuation dynamics by noise color
Activated escape is investigated for systems that are driven by noise whose power spectrum peaks at a finite frequency. Analytic theory and analog and digital experiments show that the system dynamics during escape exhibit a symmetry-breaking transition as the width of the fluctuational spectral peak is varied. For double-well potentials, even a small asymmetry may result in a parametrically large difference of the activation energies for escape from different wells.
Arrayas
M
Department of Physics, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YB, United Kingdom.
Dykman
MI
Mannella
R
McClintock
PV
Stein
ND