Quantum escape kinetics over a fluctuating barrier

TL;DR

This paper explores how quantum effects, especially tunneling, significantly enhance the resonant activation phenomenon in escape rates over fluctuating barriers at low temperatures.

Contribution

It extends classical resonant activation analysis to the quantum domain, demonstrating the impact of quantization and tunneling on escape kinetics.

Findings

Quantum tunneling amplifies resonant activation at low temperatures.

Resonant activation depends on the correlation time of barrier fluctuations.

Quantum effects lead to higher escape rates compared to classical predictions.

Abstract

The escape rate of a particle over a fluctuating barrier in a double well potential exhibits resonance at an optimum value of correlation time of fluctuation. This has been shown to be important in several variants of kinetic model of chemical reactions . We extend the analysis of this phenomenon of resonant activation to quantum domain to show how quantization significantly enhances resonant activation at low temperature due to tunneling.