Noise color influence on escape times in nonlinear oscillators - experimental and numerical results

The interplay between noise and nonlinearites can lead to escape dynamics. Associated nonlinear phenomena have been observed in various applications ranging from climatology to biology and engineering. For reasons of computational ease, in most studies, Gaussian white noise is used. However, this noise model is not physical due to the associated infinite energy content. Here, the authors present extensive experimental investigations and numerical simulations conducted to examine the impact of noise color on escape times in nonlinear oscillators. With a careful parameterization of the numerical simulations, the authors are able to make quantitative comparisons with experimental results. Through the experiments and simulations, it is illustrated that the noise color can drastically influence escape times and escape probability.