English

First passage time statistics for two-channel diffusion

Statistical Mechanics 2017-02-01 v2 Mathematical Physics math.MP Biological Physics

Abstract

We present rigorous results for the mean first passage time and first passage time statistics for two-channel Markov additive diffusion in a 3-dimensional spherical domain. Inspired by biophysical examples we assume that the particle can only recognise the target in one of the modes, which is shown to effect a non-trivial first passage behaviour. We also address the scenario of intermittent immobilisation. In both cases we prove that despite the perfectly non-recurrent motion of two-channel Markov additive diffusion in 3 dimensions the first passage statistics at long times do not display Poisson-like behaviour if none of the phases has a vanishing diffusion coefficient. This stands in stark contrast to the standard (one-channel) Markov diffusion counterpart. We also discuss the relevance of our results in the context of cellular signalling.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1608.02397,
  title  = {First passage time statistics for two-channel diffusion},
  author = {Aljaz Godec and Ralf Metzler},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1608.02397},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

Version accepted in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical (for the Special Issue: Emerging talents)

R2 v1 2026-06-22T15:14:46.834Z