  Based on a system-reservoir model, where the reservoir is driven by an
external stationary, Gaussian noise with arbitrary decaying correlation
function, we study the escape rate from a metastable state in the energy
diffusion regime. For the open system we derive the Fokker-Planck equation in
the energy space and subsequently calculate the generalized non-Markovian
escape rate from a metastable well in the energy diffusion domain. By
considering the dynamics in a model cubic potential we show that the results
obtained from numerical simulation are in good agreement with the theoretical
prediction. It has been also shown numerically that the well known turnover
feature can be restored from our model.
