We investigate the run and tumble particle (RTP), also known as persistent Brownian motion, in one dimension. A telegraphic noise $σ(t)$ drives the particle which changes between $\pm 1$ values with some rates. Denoting the rate of flip from $1$ to $-1$ as $R_1$ and the converse rate as $R_2$, we consider the position and direction dependent rates of the form $R_1(x)=\left(\frac{\mid x \mid}{l}\right) ^α\left[γ_1~θ(x)+γ_2 ~θ(-x)\right]$ and $R_2(x)=\left(\frac{\mid x \mid}{l}\right) ^α\left[γ_2~θ(x)+γ_1 ~θ(-x)\right]$ with $α\geq 0$. For $γ_1 >γ_2$, we find that the particle exhibits a steady-state probability distriution even in an infinite line whose exact form depends on $α$. For $α=0$ and $1$, we solve the master equations exactly for arbitrary $γ_1$ and $γ_2$ at large $t$. From our explicit expression for time-dependent probability distribution $P(x,t)$ we find that it exponentially relaxes to the steady-state distribution for $γ_1 > γ_2$. On the other hand, for $γ_1<γ_2$, the large $t$ behaviour of $P(x,t)$ is drastically different than $γ_1=γ_2$ case where the distribution decays as $t^{-\frac{1}{2}}$. Contrary to the latter, detailed balance is not obeyed by the particle even at large $t$ in the former case. For general $α$, we argue that the approach to the steady state in $γ_1>γ_2$ case is exponential which we numerically demonstrate....
A one-dimensional run-and-tumble particle (RTP) switches randomly between a left and right moving state of constant speed $v$. This type of motion arises in a wide range of applications in cell biology, including the unbiased growth and shrinkage of microtubules or cytonemes, the bidirectional motion of molecular motors, and the "run-and-tumble" motion of bacteria such as {\em E. coli}. RTPs are also of more general interest within the non-equilibrium statistical physics community, both at the single particle level and at the interacting population level, where it provides a simple example of …
We study the long-time asymptotic behavior of the position distribution of a run-and-tumble particle (RTP) in two dimensions and show that the distribution at a time $t$ can be expressed as a perturbative series in $(γt)^{-1}$, where $γ^{-1}$ is the persistence time of the RTP. We show that the higher order corrections to the leading order Gaussian distribution generically satisfy an inhomogeneous diffusion equation where the source term depends on the previous order solutions. The explicit solution of the inhomogeneous equation requires the position moments, and we develop a recursive formali…
We present an analysis of the stationary distributions of run-and-tumble particles trapped in external potentials in terms of a thermophoretic potential, that emerges when trapped active motion is mapped to trapped passive Brownian motion in a fictitious inhomogeneous thermal bath. We elaborate on the meaning of the non-Boltzmann-Gibbs stationary distributions that emerge as a consequence of the persistent motion of active particles. These stationary distributions are interpreted as a class of distributions in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics known as superstatistics. Our analysis provides…
We investigate the local time $(T_{loc})$ statistics for a run and tumble particle in an one dimensional inhomogeneous medium. The inhomogeneity is introduced by considering the position dependent rate of the form $R(x) = γ\frac{|x|^α}{l^α}$ with $α\geq 0$. For $α=0$, we derive the probability distribution of $T_{loc}$ exactly which is expressed as a series of $δ$-functions in which the coefficients can be interpreted as the probability of multiple revisits of the particle to the origin starting from the origin. For general $α$, we show that the typical fluctuations of $T_{loc}$ scale with tim…
The electrical conductivity is calculated for regular inhomogeneous two component isotropic medium in which droplets of one phase with conductivity sigma_2 are embedded in another, with conductivity sigma_1. An expression is formulated which can be used in many different situations, and is of particular relevance in the case where the relative proportion of the components is temperature dependent and varies over a wide range. The behavior of effective conductivity depends on the spatial arrangements and the shape of the inclusions.
We discuss diffusion of particles in a spatially inhomogeneous medium. From the microscopic viewpoint we consider independent particles randomly evolving on a lattice. We show that the reversibility condition has a discrete geometric interpretation in terms of weights associated to un--oriented edges and vertices. We consider the hydrodynamic diffusive scaling that gives, as a macroscopic evolution equation, the Fokker--Planck equation corresponding to the evolution of the probability distribution of a reversible spatially inhomogeneous diffusion process. The geometric macroscopic counterpart …
The pinning of an inhomogeneous elastic medium by a disordered substrate is studied analytically and numerically. The static and dynamic properties of a $D$-dimensional system are shown to be equivalent to those of the well known problem of a $D$-dimensional random manifold embedded in $(D+D)$-dimensions. The analogy is found to be very robust, applicable to a wide range of elastic media, including those which are amorphous or nearly-periodic, with local or nonlocal elasticity. Also demonstrated explicitly is the equivalence between the dynamic depinning transition obtained at a constant drivi…
Nonlinear stochastic differential equations generating signals with 1/f spectrum have been used so far to describe socio-economical systems. In this paper we consider the motion of a Brownian particle in an inhomogeneous environment such that the motion can be described by the equation yielding 1/f spectrum in a broad range of frequencies. The inhomogeneous environment can be a result, for example, of a linear potential affecting the Brownian particle together with the medium where steady state heat transfer is present due to the difference of temperatures at the ends of the medium. The correl…
We consider a random walk on one-dimensional inhomogeneous graphs built from Cantor fractals. Our study is motivated by recent experiments that demonstrated superdiffusion of light in complex disordered materials, thereby termed Lévy glasses. We introduce a geometric parameter $α$ which plays a role analogous to the exponent characterizing the step length distribution in random systems. We study the large-time behavior of both local and average observables; for the latter case, we distinguish two different types of averages, respectively over the set of all initial sites and over the scatterin…
In this paper we extend the encounter-based model of diffusion-mediated surface absorption to the case of an unbiased run-and-tumble particle (RTP) confined to a finite interval $[0,L]$ and switching between two constant velocity states $\pm v$ at a rate $α$. The encounter-based formalism is motivated by the observation that various surface-based reactions are better modeled in terms of a reactivity that is a function of the amount of time that a particle spends in a neighborhood of an absorbing surface, which is specified by a functional known as the boundary local time. The effects of surfac…
We investigate the spatial dependence of the density of vibrated granular beds, using simulations based on a hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm. We find that the initial consolidation is typically inhmogeneous, both in the presence of a constant shaking intensity and when the granular bed is submitted to `annealed shaking'. We also present a theoretical model which explains such inhomogeneous relaxation in terms of a `consolidation wave', in good qualitative agreement with our simulations. Our results are also in qualitative agreement with recent simulations.
We introduce a general formalism to analyze nucleation phenomena in inhomogeneous media which considers the influence of the metastable phase, which is treated as a heat bath in which clusters are embedded, in the dynamics of the nucleation process. A kinetic equation for the evolution of the probability density of the clusters, taking into account possible inhomogeneities in the bath, is derived using mesoscopic nonequilibrium thermodynamics. From it, we obtain the nucleation rate and analyze the role played by the metastable phase in the process. We discuss in particular condensation and pol…
We investigate the influence of a shear flow on the process of nucleation. Mesoscopic nonequilibrium thermodynamics is used to derive the Fokker-Planck equation governing the evolution of the cluster size distribution in a metastable phase subjected to a stationary flow. The presence of the flow manifests itself in the expression for the effective diffusion coefficient of a cluster and introduces modifications in the nucleation rate. The implications of these results in condensation and polymer crystallization are discussed.
Diffusion in inhomogeneous materials can be described by both the Fick and Fokker--Planck diffusion equations. Here, we study a mixed Fick and Fokker-Planck diffusion problem with coefficients rapidly oscillating both in space and time. We obtain macroscopic models performing the homogenization limit by means of the unfolding technique.
The influence of topological defects on phase synchronization and phase coherence in two-dimensional arrays of locally-coupled, nonidentical, chaotic oscillators is investigated. The motion of topological defects leads to a breakdown of phase synchronization in the vicinities of the defects; however, the system is much more phase coherent as long as the coupling between the oscillators is strong enough to prohibit the continuous dynamical creation and annihilation of defects. The generic occurrence of topological defects in two and higher dimensions implies that the concept of phase synchroniz…
We investigate the impact of external periodic potentials on superdiffusive random walks known as Levy flights and show that even strongly superdiffusive transport is substantially affected by the external field. Unlike ordinary random walks, Levy flights are surprisingly sensitive to the shape of the potential while their asymptotic behavior ceases to depend on the Levy index $μ$. Our analysis is based on a novel generalization of the Fokker-Planck equation suitable for systems in thermal equilibrium. Thus, the results presented are applicable to the large class of situations in which superdi…
We study the influence of the relative size of the reservoir on the adsorption isotherms of a fluid in disordered or inhomogeneous mesoporous solids. We consider both an atomistic model of a fluid in a simple, yet structured pore, whose adsorption isotherms are computed by molecular simulation, and a coarse-grained model for adsorption in a disordered mesoporous material, studied by a density functional approach in a local mean-field approximation. In both cases, the fluid inside the porous solid exchanges matter with a reservoir of gas that is at the same temperature and chemical potential an…
Thomson scattering of laser light is one of the most fundamental diagnostics of plasma density, temperature and magnetic fields. It relies on the assumption that the properties in the probed volume are homogeneous and constant during the probing time. On the other hand, laboratory plasmas are seldom uniform and homogeneous on the temporal and spatial dimensions over which data is collected. This is partic- ularly true for laser-produced high-energy-density matter, which often exhibits steep gradients in temperature, density and pressure, on a scale determined by the laser focus. Here, we discu…
The method of iterated conformal maps is developed for quasi-static fracture of brittle materials, for all modes of fracture. Previous theory, that was relevant for mode III only, is extended here to mode I and II. The latter require solution of the bi-Laplace rather than the Laplace equation. For all cases we can consider quenched randomness in the brittle material itself, as well as randomness in the succession of fracture events. While mode III calls for the advance (in time) of one analytic function, mode I and II call for the advance of two analytic functions. This fundamental difference …
