Arrhenius law for interacting diffusive systems.

Area of Science:

• Statistical Physics
• Chemical Physics
• Nonequilibrium Systems

Background:

• Understanding particle escape from metastable states is crucial across physics, chemistry, and biology.
• Thermal fluctuations drive particle escape, a process fundamental to many scientific disciplines.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the escape rate of interacting diffusive particles from potential traps.
• To analyze the impact of excluded volume interactions on particle escape dynamics using macroscopic fluctuation theory.

Main Methods:

• Utilized macroscopic fluctuation theory, a nonequilibrium hydrodynamic framework.
• Studied interacting diffusive particles in a deep potential trap.
• Compared escape rates in systems with and without excluded volume effects.

Main Results:

• Systems without excluded volume follow the established Arrhenius law for particle escape.
• The presence of excluded volume introduces a new universality class, significantly modifying the escape rate.
• Within this universality class, the escape rate becomes independent of inter-particle interactions.

Conclusions:

• Excluded volume effects are critical in determining particle escape rates, leading to a distinct universality class.
• The discovered universality class offers new perspectives for interpreting escape processes in chemical physics.
• The interaction-independent nature of the escape rate in this class highlights the dominant role of excluded volume.