Strong enhancement of noise-induced escape by nonadiabatic periodic driving due to transient chaos -: art. no. 051111

We have found a mechanism by which a moderately weak nonadiabatic periodic driving may significantly facilitate noise-induced interwell transitions in an underdamped multiwell system. The mechanism is associated with the onset of a homoclinic tangle in the noise-free system: if the ratio of the driving amplitude A to the damping Gamma exceeds a critical value similar to 1, then the basins of attraction of the linear responses related to different wells are mixed in a complex manner in some layer associated with the separatrix of the undriven nondissipative system, and the minimal energy in such layer is lower than the top of the barrier. Thus the energy to which the system needs to be activated by the noise, to be able to make a transition, is lower than the top of the barrier.