Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-short-options-paper-shared-by-prelims-and-parts-a-and-b-of-the-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2017/s12/2/3/solution

The stationary occupation ratio is . Balance of the two probability currents gives , and Boltzmann occupation of the trapped macrostates gives . Therefore
The sketch has two wells separated by 1 micrometre, with the second free-energy level higher by and an intervening escape barrier. Free energy includes the volume of each trapped basin; equal minimum potential heights alone would not ensure equal occupations if basin shapes differed.
Figure 1.
Two-state free-energy tilt and the distinct fast and slow timescales of a carbon-pulse response
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