Luchinsky, D. G. and Mannella, R. and McClintock, Peter V. E. and Dykman, M. and Smelyanskiy, V. N. (1999) Thermally activated escape of driven systems : the activation energy. Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General, 32 (27). L321-L327. ISSN 0305-4470
Abstract
Thermally activated escape in the presence of a periodic external field is investigated theoretically and through analogue experiments and digital simulations. The observed variation of the activation energy for escape with driving force parameters is accurately described by the logarithmic susceptibility (LS). The frequency dispersion of the LS is shown to differ markedly from the standard linear susceptibility. Experimental data on the dispersion are in quantitative agreement with the theory. Switching between different branches of the activation energy is demonstrated for a nonsinusoidal (biharmonic) force.