Mean first-passage time of a bistable kinetic model driven by cross-correlated noises

The transient properties of a bistable system driven by cross-correlated no ises are investigated; the correlation times of the correlations between th e noises are nonzero. The mean first-passage time (MFPT) is calculated. Fro m numerical computations we find the following: (1) The MFPT of the system is affected by both the correlation time tau and the correlation strength l ambda; (2) tau and lambda play opposing roles in the MFPT; (3) when lambda or alpha/D(alpha and D are the additive and multiplicative noise intensitie s respectively) are far away from 1, the MFPT as a function of tau is monot onic; however, when both alpha/D and lambda approach 1, the MFPT as a funct ion of tau is nonmonotonic; (4) for the case of perfectly correlated noises (lambda=1), the MFPT corresponding to alpha>D and alpha<D exhibit the same behaviors and the MFPT for alpha=D is continuous, which is very different from the case of the tau=0 [Phys Rev. E 53, 5764 (1996)].