Lévy Flights are paradigmatic generalised random walk processes, in which the independent stationary increments---the "jump lengths"---are drawn from an $α$-stable jump length distribution with long-tailed, power-law asymptote. As a result, the variance of Lévy Flights diverges and the trajectory is characterised by occasional extremely long jumps. Such long jumps significantly decrease the probability to revisit previous points of visitation, rendering Lévy Flights efficient search processes in one and two dimensions. To further quantify their precise property as random search strategies we here study the first-passage time properties of Lévy Flights in one-dimensional semi-infinite and bounded domains for symmetric and asymmetric jump length distributions. To obtain the full probability density function of first-passage times for these cases we employ two complementary methods. One approach is based on the space-fractional diffusion equation for the probability density function, from which the survival probability is obtained for different values of the stable index $α$ and the skewness (asymmetry) parameter $β$. The other approach is based on the stochastic Langevin equation with $α$-stable driving noise. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages for explicit calculations and numerical evaluation, and the complementary approach involving both methods will be profitable for concrete applications. We also make use of the Skorokhod theorem for processes with independent increments and demonstrate that the numerical results are in good agreement with the analytical expressions for the probability density function of the first-passage times.
We investigate the first-passage dynamics of symmetric and asymmetric Lévy flights in a semi-infinite and bounded intervals. By solving the space-fractional diffusion equation, we analyse the fractional-order moments of the first-passage time probability density function for different values of the index of stability and the skewness parameter. A comparison with results using the Langevin approach to Lévy flights is presented. For the semi-infinite domain, in certain special cases analytic results are derived explicitly, and in bounded intervals a general analytical expression for the mean fir…
For both Levy flight and Levy walk search processes we analyse the full distribution of first-passage and first-hitting (or first-arrival) times. These are, respectively, the times when the particle moves across a point at some given distance from its initial position for the first time, or when it lands at a given point for the first time. For Levy motions with their propensity for long relocation events and thus the possibility to jump across a given point in space without actually hitting it ("leapovers"), these two definitions lead to significantly different results. We study the first-pas…
An important open problem in the theory of Lévy flights concerns the analytically tractable formulation of absorbing boundary conditions. Although numerical studies using the correctly defined nonlocal approach have yielded substantial insights regarding the statistics of first passage, the resultant modifications to the dynamical equations hinder the detailed analysis possible in the absence of these conditions. In this study it is demonstrated that using the first-hit distribution, related to the first passage leapover, as the absorbing sink preserves the tractability of the dynamical equati…
We derive a functional equation for the mean first-passage time (MFPT) of a generic self-similar Markovian continuous process to a target in a one-dimensional domain and obtain its exact solution. We show that the obtained expression of the MFPT for continuous processes is actually different from the large system size limit of the MFPT for discrete jump processes allowing leapovers. In the case considered here, the asymptotic MFPT admits non-vanishing corrections, which we call residual MFPT. The case of L/'evy flights with diverging variance of jump lengths is investigated in detail, in parti…
In these lecture notes I will discuss the universal first-passage properties of a simple correlated discrete-time sequence {x_0=0, x_1,x_2.... x_n} up to n steps where x_i represents the position at step i of a random walker hopping on a continuous line by drawing independently, at each time step, a random jump length from an arbitrary symmetric and continuous distribution (it includes, e.g., the Levy flights). I will focus on the statistics of two extreme observables associated with the sequence: (i) its global maximum and the time step at which the maximum occurs and (ii) the number of recor…
The escape from a given domain is one of the fundamental problems in statistical physics and the theory of stochastic processes. Here, we explore properties of the escape of an inertial particle driven by Lévy noise from a bounded domain, restricted by two absorbing boundaries.Presence of two absorbing boundaries assures that the escape process can be characterized by the finite mean first passage time. The detailed analysis of escape kinetics shows that properties of the mean first passage time for the integrated Ornstein--Uhlenbeck process driven by Lévy noise are closely related to properti…
The spectral theory of random walks on networks of arbitrary topology can be readily extended to study random walks and Lévy flights subject to resetting on these structures. When a discrete-time process is stochastically brought back from time to time to its starting node, the mean search time needed to reach another node of the network may be significantly decreased. In other cases, however, resetting is detrimental to search. Using the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the transition matrix defining the process without resetting, we derive a general criterion for finite networks that establis…
We consider stochastic systems involving general -- non-Gaussian and asymmetric -- stable processes. The random quantities, either a stochastic force or a waiting time in a random walk process, explicitly depend on the position. A fractional diffusion equation corresponding to a master equation for a jumping process with a variable jumping rate is solved in a diffusion limit. It is demonstrated that for some model parameters the equation is satisfied in that limit by the stable process with the same asymptotics as the driving noise. The Langevin equation containing a multiplicative noise, depe…
We consider a one dimensional asymmetric random walk whose jumps are identical, independent and drawn from a distribution ϕ(η) displaying asymmetric power law tails (i.e. ϕ(η) \sim c/η^{α+1} for large positive jumps and ϕ(η) \sim c/(γ|η|^{α+1}) for large negative jumps, with 0 < α< 2). In absence of boundaries and after a large number of steps n, the probability density function (PDF) of the walker position, x_n, converges to an asymmetric Lévy stable law of stability index αand skewness parameter β=(γ-1)/(γ+1). In particular the right tail of this PDF decays as c n/x_n^{1+α}. Much less is kno…
In this paper we provide an analysis of a mean first passage time problem of a random walker subject to a bi-variate $α$-stable Lévy type noise from a 2-dimensional disk. For an appropriate choice of parameters the mean first passage time reveals non-trivial, non-monotonous dependence on the stability index $α$ describing jumps' length asymptotics both for spherical and Cartesian Lévy flights. Finally, we study escape from $d$-dimensional hyper-sphere showing that $d$-dimensional escape process can be used to discriminate between various types of multi-variate $α$-stable noises, especially sph…
We study the mean first-passage time (MFPT) for asymmetric continuous-time random walks in continuous-space characterised by waiting-times with finite mean and by jump-sizes with both finite mean and finite variance. In the asymptotic limit, this well-controlled process is governed by an advection-diffusion equation and the MFPT results to be finite when the advecting velocity is in the direction of the boundary. We derive a nonhomogeneous Wiener-Hopf integral equation that allows for the exact calculation of the MFPT by avoiding asymptotic limits and it emerges to depend on the whole distribu…
An efficient searcher needs to balance properly the tradeoff between the exploration of new spatial areas and the exploitation of nearby resources, an idea which is at the core of scale-free Lévy search strategies. Here we study multi-scale random walks as an approximation to the scale- free case and derive the exact expressions for their mean-first passage times in a one-dimensional finite domain. This allows us to provide a complete analytical description of the dynamics driving the asymmetric regime, in which both nearby and faraway targets are available to the searcher. For this regime, we…
We study analytically an intermittent search process in one dimension. There is an immobile target at the origin and a searcher undergoes a discrete time jump process starting at $x_0\geq0$, where successive jumps are drawn independently from an arbitrary jump distribution $f(η)$. In addition, with a probability $0\leq r \leq1$ the position of the searcher is reset to its initial position $x_0$. The efficiency of the search strategy is characterized by the mean time to find the target, i.e., the mean first passage time (MFPT) to the origin. For arbitrary jump distribution $f(η)$, initial posit…
Extreme value functionals of stochastic processes are inverse functionals of the first passage time -- a connection that renders their probability distribution functions equivalent. Here, we deepen this link and establish a framework for analyzing extreme value statistics of ergodic reversible Markov processes in confining potentials on the hand of the underlying relaxation eigenspectra. We derive a chain of inequalities, which bounds the long-time asymptotics of first passage densities, and thereby extrema, from above and from below. The bounds involve a time integral of the transition probab…
We analyze a random walk strategy on undirected regular networks involving power matrix functions of the type $L^{\fracα{2}}$ where $L$ indicates a `simple' Laplacian matrix. We refer such walks to as `Fractional Random Walks' with admissible interval $0<α\leq 2$. We deduce for the Fractional Random Walk probability generating functions (network Green's functions). From these analytical results we establish a generalization of Polya's recurrence theorem for Fractional Random Walks on $d$-dimensional infinite lattices: The Fractional Random Walk is transient for dimensions $d > α$ (recurrent fo…
Flagella of eukaryotic cells are transient long cylindrical protrusions. The proteins needed to form and maintain flagella are synthesized in the cell body and transported to the distal tips. What `rulers' or `timers' a specific type of cells use to strike a balance between the outward and inward transport of materials so as to maintain a particular length of its flagella in the steady state is one of the open questions in cellular self-organization. Even more curious is how the two flagella of biflagellates, like Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii, communicate through their base to coordinate their le…
Persistent random walks are intermediate transport processes between a uniform rectilinear motion and a Brownian motion. They are formed by successive steps of random finite lengths and directions travelled at a fixed speed. The isotropic and symmetric one-dimensional persistent random walk is governed by the telegrapher's equation, also called hyperbolic heat conduction equation. These equations have been designed to resolve the paradox of the infinite speed in the heat and diffusion equations. The finiteness of both the speed and the correlation length leads to several classes of random walk…
Several important biological processes are initiated by the binding of a protein to a specific site on the DNA. The strategy adopted by a protein, called transcription factor (TF), for searching its specific binding site on the DNA has been investigated over several decades. In recent times the effects obstacles, like DNA-binding proteins, on the search by TF has begun to receive attention. RNA polymerase (RNAP) motors collectively move along a segment of the DNA during a genomic process called transcription. This RNAP traffic is bound to affect the diffusive scanning of the same segment of th…
Cellular differentiation and evolution are stochastic processes that can involve multiple types (or states) of particles moving on a complex, high-dimensional state-space or "fitness" landscape. Cells of each specific type can thus be quantified by their population at a corresponding node within a network of states. Their dynamics across the state-space network involve genotypic or phenotypic transitions that can occur upon cell division, such as during symmetric or asymmetric cell differentiation, or upon spontaneous mutation. Waiting times between transitions can be nonexponentially distribu…
