Eur. Phys. J. D 62, 91-102 (2011)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2010-00268-3

Carbon monoxide oxidation on Iridium (111) surfaces driven by strongly colored noise^*

¹ Complex Systems Group, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Universidad de los Andes, Av. San Carlos de Apoquindo 2200, 762011 Santiago, Chile
² Department of Mathematical Engineering, Universidad de Chile, Av. Blanco Encalada 2120, Santiago, Chile
³ Institut für Integrierte Naturwissenschaften-Physik, Universität Koblenz-Landau, Universitätstraße 1, 56070 Koblenz, Germany

^a e-mail: jecisternas@miuandes.cl

Received: 15 May 2010
Received in final form: 3 August 2010
Published online: 5 November 2010

Abstract

The influence of external colored noise on the carbon monoxide oxidation on Iridium(111) surfaces is examined. The noise is introduced in the reaction by randomly varying the composition of the gas flow that keeps the reaction going on. Colored noise is studied using two models: a simple discrete time Markov chain, and the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. We compute the probability distribution and transition times, for medium and large correlation time of the noise. These results extend previous analyses that have been limited to small correlation times and the presence of a slow manifold, both assumptions that are not supported by experiments. As we will see, the correlation and intensity of the noise leads to qualitative changes in the stochastic behavior of the system.