Journal of Physical Chemistry A, Vol.112, No.13, 2794-2802, 2008
Activation processes with memory
We propose a mathematical treatment of the activated processes governed by stochastic Langevin dynamics with a colored random force, corresponding to a noise generated by an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. Such non-Markovian dynamics take place in a variety of chemical and biological systems. Using the path integral approach, we constructed the conditional probability for passing between two stationary states in configurational space. Our relations can be used for Monte Carlo sampling of evolution trajectories for systems with many degrees of freedom as well as for determining the reaction coordinate used in transition state theory. On the basis of our relation for a conditional probability, we generalize the method of determining the most probable path to the case of colored random force. Using the simple three-hole potential, we examine numerically the effect of nonzero correlation time (memory) on the evolution of the most probable path for a finite temperature.