Brownian motion with multiplicative noises revisited

Abstract

The Langevin equation with multiplicative noise and a state-dependent transport coefficient should always complemented with the proper interpretation rule of the noise, such as the Itô and Stratonovich conventions. Although the mathematical relationship between the different rules and how to translate from one rule to another are well established, the subject of which is a more physically natural rule still remains controversial. In this communication, we derive the overdamped Langevin equation with multiplicative noise for Brownian particles, by systematically eliminating the fast degrees of freedom of the underdamped Langevin equation. The Langevin equations obtained here vary depending on the choice of the noise conventions but they are different representations for an identical phenomenon. The results apply to multi-variable, nonequilibrium, non-stationary systems, and other general settings.