Decay of a metastable state activated by non-Gaussian noise: A critical review of the generalized Kramers problem

TL;DR

This paper reviews the escape from metastable states under non-Gaussian noise, clarifies theoretical approaches, and addresses criticisms related to the weak damping limit, highlighting differences due to approximations.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of non-Gaussian noise effects on metastable decay and clarifies theoretical disagreements in the field.

Findings

Connections between different theoretical methods established

Criticism of previous work addressed and clarified

Discrepancies linked to uncontrolled approximations

Abstract

We review the problem of the noise activated escape from a metastable state in the presence of non-Gaussian noise, and present connections between various theoretical approaches. We also respond to criticism of our work by Tom\'a\v{s} Novotn\'y [arXiv:0807.0387] concerning the weak damping limit. The discrepancy between our results is linked to uncontrolled approximations made by Novotn\'y.