Journal of Statistical Physics, Vol. 53, Nos. 1/2, 1988, p. 41-48.
Floquet theory is used to solve the Smoluchowski equation for a time-periodic system whose underlying dynamics exhibits a transition to deterministic chaos. For the stochastic version of this system, an abrupt transition occurs in the Floquet decay rates as parameters of the system are varied, leading to a much more rapid decay to the stationary state.