Mean First Passage Time in Periodic Attractors

Abstract

The properties of the mean first passage time in a system characterized by multiple periodic attractors are studied. Using a transformation from a high dimensional space to 1D, the problem is reduced to a stochastic process along the path from the fixed point attractor to a saddle point located between two neighboring attractors. It is found that the time to switch between attractors depends on the effective size of the attractors, $\tau$, the noise, $\epsilon$, and the potential difference between the attractor and an adjacent saddle point as: $~T = {c \over \tau} \exp({\tau \over \epsilon} \Delta {\cal{U}})~$; the ratio between the sizes of the two attractors affects $\Delta {\cal{U}}$. The result is obtained analytically for small $\tau$ and confirmed by numerical simulations. Possible implications that may arise from the model and results are discussed.