The Fokker-Planck equation for a bistable potential

Abstract

The Fokker-Planck equation is studied through its relation to a Schrodinger-type equation. The advantage of this combination is that we can construct the probability distribution of the Fokker-Planck equation by using well-known solutions of the Schrodinger equation. By making use of such a combination, we present the solution of the Fokker-Planck equation for a bistable potential related to a double oscillator. Thus, we can observe the temporal evolution of the system describing its dynamic properties such as the time tau to overcome the barrier. By calculating the rates k = 1/tau as a function of the inverse scaled temperature 1/D, where D is the diffusion coefficient, we compare the aspect of the curve k x 1/D, with the ones obtained from other studies related to four different kinds of activated process. We notice that there are similarities in some ranges of the scaled temperatures, where the different processes follow the Arrhenius behavior. We propose that the type of bistable potential used in this study may be used, qualitatively, as a simple model, whose rates share common features with the rates of some single rate-limited thermally activated processes. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.