Switching path distribution in multi-dimensional systems

Abstract

We explore the distribution of paths followed in fluctuation-induced switching between coexisting stable states. We introduce a quantitative characteristic of the path distribution in phase space that does not require a priori knowledge of system dynamics. The theory of the distribution is developed and its direct measurement is performed in a micromechanical oscillator driven into parametric resonance. The experimental and theoretical results on the shape and position of the distribution are in excellent agreement, with no adjustable parameters. In addition, the experiment provides the first demonstration of the lack of time-reversal symmetry in switching of systems far from thermal equilibrium. The results open the possibility of efficient control of the switching probability based on the measured narrow path distribution.

To appear in Phys. Rev. E

References in corpus (21)

• An RF-Driven Josephson Bifurcation Amplifier for Quantum Measurements
• Quantum non-demolition measurement of a superconducting two-level system
• Noise-enabled precision measurements of a Duffing nanomechanical resonator
• Rare Events Statistics in Reaction--Diffusion Systems
• Asymptotic Exit Location Distributions in the Stochastic Exit Problem
• Response of parametrically-driven nonlinear coupled oscillators with application to micro- and nanomechanical resonator arrays
• Surmounting Oscillating Barriers
• Classical to Quantum Transition of a Driven Nonlinear Nanomechanical Resonator
• Observable and hidden singular features of large fluctuations in nonequilibrium systems
• Noise activated switching in a driven, nonlinear micromechanical oscillator
• Signal amplification in a nanomechanical Duffing resonator via stochastic resonance
• Paths of fluctuation induced switching
• Resonant activation in a nonadiabatically driven optical lattice
• Droplet Nucleation and Domain Wall Motion in a Bounded Interval
• Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking of Population between Two Dynamic Attractors in a Driven Atomic Trap: Ising-class Phase Transition
• Dynamics of Activated Escape, and Its Observation in a Semiconductor Laser
• Resonant symmetry lifting in a parametrically modulated oscillator
• Nonstationary Optimal Paths and Tails of Prehistory Probability Density in Multistable Stochastic Systems
• Domain wall propagation and nucleation in a metastable two-level system
• Pathways of activated escape in periodically modulated systems
• Stability Properties of Nonhyperbolic Chaotic Attractors under Noise

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Mesoscopic physics of nanomechanical systems
• An electromechanical Ising machine
• Experimental metrics for detection of detailed balance violation
• Transition times in the low-noise limit of stochastic dynamics
• Classical non-Gaussian state preparation through squeezing in an opto-electromechanical resonator
• Poisson noise induced switching in driven micromechanical resonators
• Generation and propagation of topological solitons in a chain of coupled parametric-micromechanical-resonator arrays
• Stochastic switching in slow-fast systems: a large fluctuation approach
• Going with the flow: enhancing stochastic switching rates in multi-gyre systems