  Landscape is one of the key notions in literature on biological processes and
physics of complex systems with both deterministic and stochastic dynamics. The
large deviation theory (LDT) provides a possible mathematical basis for the
scientists' intuition. In terms of Freidlin-Wentzell's LDT, we discuss
explicitly two issues in singularly perturbed stationary diffusion processes
arisen from nonlinear differential equations: (1) For a process whose
corresponding ordinary differential equation has a stable limit cycle, the
stationary solution exhibits a clear separation of time scales: an exponential
terms and an algebraic prefactor. The large deviation rate function attains its
minimum zero on the entire stable limit cycle, while the leading term of the
prefactor is inversely proportional to the velocity of the non-uniform periodic
oscillation on the cycle. (2) For dynamics with multiple stable fixed points
and saddles, there is in general a breakdown of detailed balance among the
corresponding attractors. Two landscapes, a local and a global, arise in LDT,
and a Markov jumping process with cycle flux emerges in the low-noise limit. A
local landscape is pertinent to the transition rates between neighboring stable
fixed points; and the global landscape defines a nonequilibrium steady state.
There would be nondifferentiable points in the latter for a stationary dynamics
with cycle flux. LDT serving as the mathematical foundation for emergent
landscapes deserves further investigations.
