Nonlinear friction in underdamped anharmonic stochastic oscillators

Abstract

Stationary states of overdamped anharmonic stochastic oscillators driven by L\'evy noise are typically multimodal. The very same situation is recorded for an underdamped L\'evy noise driven motion in single-well potentials with linear friction. Within current manuscript we relax the assumption that the friction experienced by a particle is linear. Using computer simulations, we study underdamped motion in single-well potentials in the regime of nonlinear friction. We demonstrate that it is relatively easy to observe multimodality in the velocity distribution as it is determined by the friction itself and it is the same as the multimodality in the overdamped case with the analogous deterministic force. Contrary to the velocity marginal density, it is more difficult to produce multimodality in the position. Nevertheless, for fine-tuned nonlinear friction, the spatial multimodality can be recorded.