Path Integral approach to nonequilibrium potentials in multiplicative Langevin dynamics

Daniel G. Barci, Zochil González Arenas, Miguel Vera Moreno

Published 2015-10-18Version 1

We present a path integral formalism to compute nonequilibrium potentials for steady states, reached by a multiplicative stochastic dynamics. We develop a weak-noise expansion, which allows the explicit evaluation in arbitrary dimensions and for any stochastic prescription. We apply the general formalism to study noise-induced phase transitions and we show that this phenomenon is deeply related with microscopic irreversibility.