Iwaniszewski, J. and Kaufman, I. K. and McClintock, Peter V. E. and McKane, A. J. (2000) Resonances while surmounting a fluctuating barrier. Physical Review E, 61 (2). pp. 1170-1175. ISSN 1539-3755
Abstract
Electronic analog experiments on escape over a fluctuating potential barrier are performed for the case when the fluctuations are caused by Ornstein-Uhlenbeck noise (OUN). In its dependence on the relation between the two OUN parameters (the correlation time t and noise strength Q) the nonmonotonic variation of the mean escape time T as a function of t can exhibit either a minimum (resonant activation), or a maximum (inhibition of activation), or both these effects. The possible resonant nature of these features is discussed. We claim that T is not a good quantity to describe the resonancelike character of the problem. Independently of the specific relation between the OUN parameters, the resonance manifests itself as a maximal lowering of the potential barrier during the escape event, and it appears for t of the order of the relaxation time toward the metastable state