English

Diffusion with resetting in arbitrary spatial dimension

Statistical Mechanics 2015-06-19 v1

Abstract

We consider diffusion in arbitrary spatial dimension d with the addition of a resetting process wherein the diffusive particle stochastically resets to a fixed position at a constant rate rr. We compute the non-equilibrium stationary state which exhibits non-Gaussian behaviour. We then consider the presence of an absorbing target centred at the origin and compute the survival probability and mean time to absorption of the diffusive particle by the target. The mean absorption time is finite and has a minimum value at an optimal resetting rate rr^* which depends on dimension. Finally we consider the problem of a finite density of diffusive particles, each resetting to its own initial position. While the typical survival probability of the target at the origin decays exponentially with time regardless of spatial dimension, the average survival probability decays asymptotically as expA(logt)d\exp -A (\log t)^d where AA is a constant. We explain these findings using an interpretation as a renewal process and arguments invoking extreme value statistics.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1404.4574,
  title  = {Diffusion with resetting in arbitrary spatial dimension},
  author = {Martin R. Evans and Satya N. Majumdar},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1404.4574},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

21 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Journal of Physics A

R2 v1 2026-06-22T03:53:09.854Z