Small random perturbations of infinite dimensional dynamical systems and nucleation theory

We consider a stochastic differential equation with a standard space-time white noise and a double well non symmetric potential. The equation without the white noise term exhibits several equilibria two of which are stable. We study, in the double limit zero noise and thermodynamic limit the large fluctuations and compute the transition probability between the two stable equilibria (tunnelling). The unique stationary measure associated to the stochastic process described by our equation is strictly related to the Gibbs measure for a ferromagnetic spin system subject to a Kac interaction. Our double limit corresponds to the one considered by Lobowitz and Penrose in their rigorous version of the mean field theory of the first order phase transitions. The tunnelling between the two (non equivalent) equilibrium configurations is interpreted as the decay from the metastable to the stable state. Our results are in qualitative agreement with the usual nucleation theory