Diffusion in a bistable potential. General inverse friction expansion

Abstract

The derivation of the characteristic times and of the density probability distribution for the motion of a Brownian particle in a bistable potential at intermediate friction was, until now, essentially limited to low orders in the inverse frictionγ −1. On the other hand, at least for temperatures low with respect to the barrier height, the Kramers time, which is the lowest nonzero eigenvalue in the bistable potential problem, is known exactly. This paper presents a systematic approach for the determination of the solution of the Fokker-Planck equation in an arbitrary potential in the overdamped regime. This calculation includes anharmonicity corrections up to orderγ −5. One feature of this paper is to show that the problem is equivalent to replacing the original potentialφ(x) by a free energy which, for a velocity distribution at equilibrium, simply is $$\widetilde\phi $$ =φ(x) −k BT ln[g(x)], where $$g(x) = \left\{ {{{m\gamma } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{m\gamma } {[2\phi ''(x)]}}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {[2\phi ''(x)]}}} \right\}\left\{ {1 - [{{1 - 4\phi ''(x)} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{1 - 4\phi ''(x)} {m\gamma ^2 }}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {m\gamma ^2 }}]^{{1 \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {1 2}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} 2}} } \right\}$$ For out-of-equilibrium velocity distribution an effective potential is also explicitly given. In every case the function g(x) plays a crucial role. This approach is then applied to the exact determination, in the low-temperature limit, of all the characteristic times and of the probability distribution in bistable potentials. Moreover, from the knowledge of the characteristic times and probability density distribution, it would be easy to determine the general and exact Suzuki scaling law for the relaxation from the instability point at intermediate friction.