Escape from a metastable well under a time-ramped force
Statistical Mechanics
2009-10-31 v1
Abstract
Thermally activated escape of an over-damped particle from a metastable well under the action of a time-ramped force is studied. We express the mean first passage time (MFPT) as the solution to a partial differential equation, which we solve numerically for a model case. We discuss two approximations of the MFPT, one of which works remarkably well over a wide range of loading rates, while the second is easy to calculate and can provide a valuable first estimate.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9802182,
title = {Escape from a metastable well under a time-ramped force},
author = {Julian Shillcock and Udo Seifert},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9802182},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
9 pages, including 2 figures