title: Symmetry breaking of fluctuation dynamics by noise color
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YB, United Kingdom.
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arrayas
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Dykman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mannella
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: McClintock
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Stein