{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T19:01:30Z","timestamp":1790881290049,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"American Physical Society (APS)","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785715200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000266","name":"Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2602536"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2602536"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000266","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000266","name":"Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["EP\/Z534766\/1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["EP\/Z534766\/1"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000266","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.aps.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Phys. Rev. E"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,25]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>We present an explicit construction of the Freidlin-Wentzell quasipotential of a stochastic system with two degrees of freedom and nonreciprocal interactions. This model undergoes noise-induced transitions between four metastable attractors, forming recurrent but aperiodic \u201cEscher cycles,\u201d similar to the cyclic nucleation dynamics observed in the nonreciprocal Ising model. We calculate the quasipotential analytically to first order in nonreciprocality. We characterize it along a one-dimensional reaction coordinate that connects the attractors, and we also obtain the full two-dimensional landscape, at leading order in perturbation theory. The resulting landscapes feature flat regions and extended plateaus, together with nondifferentiable switching lines. These singular structures arise from two geometric mechanisms: the handover of dominance between competing transition paths, and the competition between basins of attraction. The system provides a rare case where the geometry of nonequilibrium rare events can be fully resolved, and a simple analytically tractable example of a quasipotential in more than one coordinate that captures a rich set of nonequilibrium features.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1103\/slp9-rd27","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,25]],"date-time":"2026-06-25T19:31:31Z","timestamp":1782415891000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1103\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Nonreciprocal dynamics with weak noise: Aperiodic \u201cEscher cycles\u201d and their quasipotential landscape"],"prefix":"10.1103","volume":"114","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-8860-7570","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Janik","family":"Sch\u00fcttler","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/013meh722","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"University of Cambridge"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0086-4573","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Robert L.","family":"Jack","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/013meh722","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"University of Cambridge"},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/013meh722","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"University of Cambridge"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5922-7731","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Michael E.","family":"Cates","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/013meh722","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"University of Cambridge"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"16","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"slp9-rd27Cc1R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1088\/0305-4470\/32\/8\/002","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"slp9-rd27Cc2R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevLett.129.268003","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"slp9-rd27Cc3R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevLett.131.218301","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"slp9-rd27Cc4R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevLett.119.188003","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"slp9-rd27Cc5R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1088\/1367-2630\/ad7dac","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"slp9-rd27Cc6R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-024-84819-w","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"slp9-rd27Cc7R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevLett.134.117103","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"slp9-rd27Cc8R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevE.111.034124","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"slp9-rd27Cc9R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.2010318117","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"slp9-rd27Cc10R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-021-03375-9","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"slp9-rd27Cc11R1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s42254-022-00445-3","type":"journal-article"},{"key":"slp9-rd27Cc12R1","volume-title":"Reaction Rate Theory and Rare Events Simulations","author":"B. 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All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.","name":"copyright_statement","label":"Copyright statement","group":{"name":"copyright","label":"copyright"}},{"value":"2026","name":"copyright_year","label":"Copyright year","group":{"name":"copyright","label":"copyright"}},{"value":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/","name":"creative_commons_license","label":"Creative Commons license","group":{"name":"licenses","label":"Licenses"}},{"value":"\u00a92026 The authors","name":"copyright_holder","label":"Copyright holder","group":{"name":"copyright","label":"copyright"}}],"article-number":"024104"}}