An Eyring--Kramers Law for the Hypoelliptic Third-Order Langevin Diffusion

Abstract

We prove an Eyring--Kramers law for metastable transitions of the hypoelliptic third-order Langevin diffusion in the low-temperature limit. This diffusion is a three-level Markovian lifting of Langevin dynamics: the Brownian noise acts only on the highest auxiliary variable and reaches the position variable through a third-order H"ormander chain. For a double-well potential with a unique index-one transition saddle, we determine both the Arrhenius exponential scale and the sharp prefactor of the mean transition time. The prefactor is governed by the unique positive unstable rate of the deterministic linearization at the saddle, equivalently the positive root of a cubic polynomial. Our proof combines a weak-capacity framework with a saddle-adapted boundary layer, an explicit Gaussian current calculation, committor localization, and intrawell flatness. Under matched kinetic normalizations, the resulting metastable prefactor is strictly smaller than its underdamped counterpart. A numerical experiment for a one-dimensional double well illustrates the Arrhenius scaling and the predicted prefactor comparison.