title: Scaling in activated escape of underdamped systems.
abstract: Noise-induced escape from a metastable state of a dynamical system is studied close to a saddle-node bifurcation point, but in the region where the system remains underdamped. The activation energy of escape scales as a power of the distance to the bifurcation point. We find two types of scaling and the corresponding critical exponents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA.
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Dykman
authors.forename: I B
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shapiro