Computing stationary distributions in equilibrium and non-equilibrium systems with Forward Flux Sampling

Abstract

We present a method for computing stationary distributions for activated processes in equilibrium and non-equilibrium systems using Forward Flux Sampling (FFS). In this method, the stationary distributions are obtained directly from the rate constant calculations for the forward and backward reactions; there is no need to perform separate calculations for the stationary distribution and the rate constant. We apply the method to the non-equilibrium rare event problem proposed by Maier and Stein, to nucleation in a 2-dimensional Ising system, and to the flipping of a genetic switch.