The Fokker-Planck equation for arbitrary nonlinear noise

We present the Fokker-Planck equation for arbitrary nonlinear noise terms. The white noise limit is taken as the zero correlation time limit of the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. The drift and diffusion coefficients of the Fokker-Planck equation are given by triple integrals of the fluctuations. We apply the Fokker-Planck equation to the active rotator model with a fluctuating potential barrier which depends nonlinearly on an additive noise. We show that the nonlinearity may be transformed into the correlation of linear noise terms. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.