We construct a stochastic model showing the relationship between noise, gradient flows and rate-independent systems. The model consists of a one-dimensional birth-death process on a lattice, with rates derived from Kramers law as an approximation of a Brownian motion on a wiggly energy landscape. Taking various limits we show how to obtain a whole family of generalized gradient flows, ranging from quadratic to rate-independent ones, connected via $L log L$ gradient flows. This is achieved via Mosco-convergence of the renormalized large-deviations rate functional of the stochastic process.
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