Arrhenius law for interacting diffusive systems

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Kumar, Vishwajeet, Pal, Arnab, Shpielberg, Ohad
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Kumar, Vishwajeet
Pal, Arnab
Shpielberg, Ohad
author_facet Kumar, Vishwajeet
Pal, Arnab
Shpielberg, Ohad
contents Finding the mean time it takes for a particle to escape from a meta-stable state due to thermal fluctuations is a fundamental problem in physics, chemistry and biology. For weak thermal noise, the mean escape time is captured by the Arrhenius law (AL). Despite its ubiquity in nature and wide applicability in practical engineering, the problem is typically limited to single particle physics. Finding a generalized form of the AL for interacting particles has eluded solution for a century. Here, we tackle this outstanding problem and generalize the AL to a class of interacting diffusive systems within the framework of the macroscopic fluctuation theory. The generalized AL is shown to conform a non-trivial yet elegant form that depends crucially on the particle density and inter-particle interactions. We demonstrate our results for the paradigmatic exclusion and inclusion processes to underpin the key effects of repulsive and attractive interactions. Intriguingly, we show how to manipulate the mean escape time using not only temperature, but also the particle density.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2306_06879
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Arrhenius law for interacting diffusive systems
Kumar, Vishwajeet
Pal, Arnab
Shpielberg, Ohad
Statistical Mechanics
Soft Condensed Matter
Biological Physics
Chemical Physics
Finding the mean time it takes for a particle to escape from a meta-stable state due to thermal fluctuations is a fundamental problem in physics, chemistry and biology. For weak thermal noise, the mean escape time is captured by the Arrhenius law (AL). Despite its ubiquity in nature and wide applicability in practical engineering, the problem is typically limited to single particle physics. Finding a generalized form of the AL for interacting particles has eluded solution for a century. Here, we tackle this outstanding problem and generalize the AL to a class of interacting diffusive systems within the framework of the macroscopic fluctuation theory. The generalized AL is shown to conform a non-trivial yet elegant form that depends crucially on the particle density and inter-particle interactions. We demonstrate our results for the paradigmatic exclusion and inclusion processes to underpin the key effects of repulsive and attractive interactions. Intriguingly, we show how to manipulate the mean escape time using not only temperature, but also the particle density.
title Arrhenius law for interacting diffusive systems
topic Statistical Mechanics
Soft Condensed Matter
Biological Physics
Chemical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.06879