Abstract
Noise-induced transitions between metastable fixed points in systems evolving on multiple time scales are analyzed in situations where the time scale separation gives rise to a slow manifold with bifurcation. This analysis is performed within the realm of large deviation theory. It is shown that these non-equilibrium transitions make use of a reaction channel created by the bifurcation structure of the slow manifold, leading to vastly increased transition rates. Several examples are used to illustrate these findings, including an insect outbreak model, a system modeling phase separation in the presence of evaporation, and a system modeling transitions in active matter self-assembly. The last example involves a spatially extended system modeled by a stochastic partial differential equation.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 093208 |
Journal | Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment |
Volume | 2017 |
Issue number | 9 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 25 2017 |
Keywords
- active matter
- large deviations in non-equilibrium systems
- metastable states
- stochastic processes
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
- Statistics and Probability
- Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty