ADIABATIC APPROACH TO MEAN-1ST-PASSAGE-TIME COMPUTATION IN BISTABLE POTENTIAL WITH COLORED NOISE

An approach to compute the mean-first-passage time (MFPT) in bistable systems driven by colored noise is presented. The approach is valid in the limit of large but finite noise correlation time and finite noise strength, a case for which no satisfactory theory exists at present. Our approach is a modification of the fluctuating-potential theory pro posed in Phys. Rev. Lett. 61, 7 (1988). Excellent agreement is found b etween our results for MFPT and that of the simulation results of Mann ella, Palleschi, and Grigolini [Phys. Rev. A 42, 5946 (1990)). Interes ting similarity between stochastic resonance and the colored-noise pro blem is brought out.