Abstract
The escape rate from a point attractor across an unstable fixed point is studied for a noisy map dynamics in 1 dimension. It is shown that for additive white noise ξ with a distribution proportional to exp [ − |ξ|α] ,α>1, the escape rate is dominated by an exponentially leading Arrhenius-like factor in the weak-noise limit. However, with the exception of Gaussian noise (α = 2), the pre-exponential contribution to the rate still depends more strongly than any power law on the noise strength.