English

Confusion concerning the extrapolated endpoint. When will it ever end?

Statistical Mechanics 2024-05-10 v3

Abstract

In a paper on ``the Brownian motion analog of the well-known Milne problem in radiative transfer theory'' [\textit{J Stat Phys} 25 (1981) 569--82], Burschka and Titulaer reported: ``The value we find for this `Milne extrapolation length' is, in the appropriate dimensionless units, approximately twice the value found in the radiative transfer problem.'' A study by Ziff [\textit{J Stat Phys} 65 (1991) 1217--33], concerned with the absorption of particles executing a Rayleigh flight (randomly directed displacements of equal length ll) by a black sphere of radius RR, led to a value for the extrapolation length γ\gamma about half as small as the benchmark result (for Rl)R\gg l). The first discrepancy is shown to result from the disparity of the two length scales; the second, from the zero variance of the jump lengths. Ziff's finding that γ\gamma is independent of RR for 0<l2R0<l\leq 2R, cannot be reconciled with studies based on the Lorentz-Boltzmann equation and the Klein-Kramers equation.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2405.02448,
  title  = {Confusion concerning the extrapolated endpoint. When will it ever end?},
  author = {K. Razi Naqvi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.02448},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

12 pages, 1 figure

R2 v1 2026-06-28T16:16:08.524Z