We have explored a simple microscopic model to simulate a thermally activated rate process where the associated bath which comprises a set of relaxing modes is not in an equilibrium state. The model captures some of the essential features of non-Markovian Langevin dynamics with a fluctuating barrier. Making use of the Fokker-Planck description we calculate the barrier dynamics in the steady state and non-stationary regimes. The Kramers-Grote-Hynes reactive frequency has been computed in closed form in the steady state to illustrate the strong dependence of the dynamic coupling of the system with the relaxing modes. The influence of nonequilibrium excitation of the bath modes and its relaxation on the kinetics of activation of the system mode is demonstrated.We derive the dressed time-dependent Kramers rate in the nonstationary regime in closed analytical form which exhibits strong non-exponential relaxation kinetics of the reaction co-ordinate. The feature can be identified as a typical non-Markovian dynamical effect.

We consider a system-reservoir model where the reservoir is modulated by an external noise. Both the internal noise of the reservoir and the external noise are stationary, Gaussian and are characterized by arbitrary decaying correlation functions. Based on a relation between the dissipation of the system and the response function of the reservoir driven by external noise we numerically examine the model using a full bistable potential to show that one can recover the turn-over features of the usual Kramers' dynamics when the external noise modulates the reservoir rather than the system directly.We derive the generalized Kramers' rate for this nonequilibrium open system.

The Kramers' theory of activated processes is generalized for nonequilibrium open one-dimensional systems. We consider both the internal noise due to thermal bath and the external noise which are stationary, Gaussian and are characterized by arbitrary decaying correlation functions. We stress the role of a nonequilibrium stationary state distribution for this open system which is reminiscent of an equilibrium Boltzmann distribution in calculation of rate.The generalized rate expression we derive here reduces to the specific limiting cases pertaining to the closed and open systems for thermal and non-thermal steady state activation processes. PACS number(s) : 02.50.Ey, 05.70.Ln, Typeset using REVT E X 1

Based on a system-reservoir model, where the system is nonlinearly coupled to a heat bath and the heat bath is modulated by an external stationary Gaussian noise, we derive the generalized Langevin equation with space-dependent friction and multiplicative noise and construct the corresponding Fokker-Planck equation, valid for short correlation time, with space-dependent diffusion coefficient to study the escape rate from a metastable state in the moderate-to large-damping regime. By considering the dynamics in a model cubic potential we analyze the results numerically which are in good agreement with theoretical predictions. It has been shown numerically that enhancement of the rate is possible by properly tuning the correlation time of the external noise.

We show that Wigner-Leggett-Caldeira equation for Wigner phase space distribution function which describes the quantum Brownian motion of a particle in a force field in a high temerature, Ohmic environment can be identified as a semiclassical version of Kramers' equation. Based on an expansion in powers ofh we solve this equation to calculate the semiclassical correction to Kramers' rate. PACS number(s) : 05.40.-a, 02.50.Ey, 05.40.Jc Typeset using REVT E X