Distribution of escape times for a deterministically driven bistable system

Area of Science:

• Statistical Physics
• Complex Systems

Background:

• Bistable systems are crucial in understanding phenomena across physics and biology.
• Noise-driven dynamics in potential energy landscapes are fundamental to many physical and biological processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the escape time sequences of a particle in a symmetric double-well potential.
• To investigate the influence of coupled oscillators on particle dynamics and escape probabilities.
• To identify underlying modes of hopping dynamics and their energy dependence.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of escape time sequences for a particle in a symmetric double-well potential.
• Coupling the system to a chain of monodimensional oscillators.
• Investigating the probability of escape across a range of energies.

Main Results:

• The probability of escape exhibits multimodal behavior, characteristic of bistable systems driven by noise.
• Two distinct modes contributing to the particle's hopping dynamics were identified.
• Each mode demonstrated a specific dependence on the energy of the oscillator chain.

Conclusions:

• The observed multimodal escape probability suggests a complex interplay between the potential landscape and external driving forces.
• The identified modes provide insights into the internal fluctuations governing particle dynamics.
• These findings propose a novel model for internal fluctuations applicable to problems in physics and biology.