D.L. Stein: Research on Noisy Dynamical Systems
for Physicists

Since 1940, Kramers' seminal work on noise-induced escape from a metastable state has provided the foundations for theoretical and experimental work on a vast array of dynamical processes ranging from chemical reactions to transport in solids to switching in computer networks to biological evolution to ...

Kramers' formulas, and later modified versions, apply primarily to systems capable of coming to thermodynamic and/or chemical equilibrium. But many systems are inherently out of equilibrium, either because of the time-reversal-noninvariance of their (noise-free) microscopic dynamics, or because they are driven by external forces. My research aims to develop an array of new theoretical techniques designed to allow us to systematically analyze noisy nonequilibrium dynamical systems, and to apply these techniques to interesting physical problems.