The escape of trajectories is a ubiquitous phenomenon in open dynamical systems and stochastic processes. If escape occurs repetitively for a statistical ensemble of trajectories, the population of remaining trajectories often undergoes an exponential decay characterised by the so-called escape rate. Its inverse defines the lifetime of the decaying state, which represents an intrinsic property of the system. This paradigm is fundamental to nucleation theory and reaction-rate theory in chemistry, physics, and biology.<p><p>In many circumstances, escape is activated by the presence of noise, which may be of internal or external origin. This is the case for thermally activated escape over a potential energy barrier and, more generally, for noi...