Diffusion in a symmetric bistable potential: A variational approach

An approximation procedure for the solution of stochastic nonlinear equations, which was derived from a variational principle in a previous paper, is applied to the problem of a particle that diffuses in a symmetric bistable potential starting from the point of unstable equilibrium. The second moment and variance for the particle's position are calculated as functions of the timet. Good agreement is found with results recently obtained by Baibuzet al. from an approximate evaluation of a path integral expression for the probability density.