TY - JOUR A1 - Scott, Shane A1 - Weiss, Matthias A1 - Selhuber-Unkel, Christine A1 - Barooji, Younes F. A1 - Sabri, Adal A1 - Erler, Janine T. A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Oddershede, Lene B. T1 - Extracting, quantifying, and comparing dynamical and biomechanical properties of living matter through single particle tracking JF - Physical chemistry, chemical physics : a journal of European Chemical Societies N2 - A panoply of new tools for tracking single particles and molecules has led to an explosion of experimental data, leading to novel insights into physical properties of living matter governing cellular development and function, health and disease. In this Perspective, we present tools to investigate the dynamics and mechanics of living systems from the molecular to cellular scale via single-particle techniques. In particular, we focus on methods to measure, interpret, and analyse complex data sets that are associated with forces, materials properties, transport, and emergent organisation phenomena within biological and soft-matter systems. Current approaches, challenges, and existing solutions in the associated fields are outlined in order to support the growing community of researchers at the interface of physics and the life sciences. Each section focuses not only on the general physical principles and the potential for understanding living matter, but also on details of practical data extraction and analysis, discussing limitations, interpretation, and comparison across different experimental realisations and theoretical frameworks. Particularly relevant results are introduced as examples. While this Perspective describes living matter from a physical perspective, highlighting experimental and theoretical physics techniques relevant for such systems, it is also meant to serve as a solid starting point for researchers in the life sciences interested in the implementation of biophysical methods. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/d2cp01384c SN - 1463-9076 SN - 1463-9084 VL - 25 IS - 3 SP - 1513 EP - 1537 PB - RSC Publ. CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tomovski, Živorad A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Gerhold, Stefan T1 - Fractional characteristic functions, and a fractional calculus approach for moments of random variables JF - Fractional calculus and applied analysis : an international journal for theory and applications N2 - In this paper we introduce a fractional variant of the characteristic function of a random variable. It exists on the whole real line, and is uniformly continuous. We show that fractional moments can be expressed in terms of Riemann-Liouville integrals and derivatives of the fractional characteristic function. The fractional moments are of interest in particular for distributions whose integer moments do not exist. Some illustrative examples for particular distributions are also presented. KW - Fractional calculus (primary) KW - Characteristic function KW - Mittag-Leffler KW - function KW - Fractional moments KW - Mellin transform Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s13540-022-00047-x SN - 1314-2224 VL - 25 IS - 4 SP - 1307 EP - 1323 PB - De Gruyter CY - Berlin ; Boston ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Xu, Pengbo A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Wang, Wanli T1 - Infinite density and relaxation for Levy walks in an external potential BT - Hermite polynomial approach JF - Physical review N2 - Levy walks are continuous-time random-walk processes with a spatiotemporal coupling of jump lengths and waiting times. We here apply the Hermite polynomial method to study the behavior of LWs with power-law walking time density for four different cases. First we show that the known result for the infinite density of an unconfined, unbiased LW is consistently recovered. We then derive the asymptotic behavior of the probability density function (PDF) for LWs in a constant force field, and we obtain the corresponding qth-order moments. In a harmonic external potential we derive the relaxation dynamic of the LW. For the case of a Poissonian walking time an exponential relaxation behavior is shown to emerge. Conversely, a power-law decay is obtained when the mean walking time diverges. Finally, we consider the case of an unconfined, unbiased LW with decaying speed v(r ) = v0/./r. When the mean walking time is finite, a universal Gaussian law for the position-PDF of the walker is obtained explicitly. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.105.044118 SN - 2470-0045 SN - 2470-0053 VL - 105 IS - 4 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vinod, Deepak A1 - Cherstvy, Andrey G. A1 - Wang, Wei A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Sokolov, Igor M. T1 - Nonergodicity of reset geometric Brownian motion JF - Physical review : E, Statistical, nonlinear and soft matter physics N2 - We derive. the ensemble-and time-averaged mean-squared displacements (MSD, TAMSD) for Poisson-reset geometric Brownian motion (GBM), in agreement with simulations. We find MSD and TAMSD saturation for frequent resetting, quantify the spread of TAMSDs via the ergodicity-breaking parameter and compute distributions of prices. General MSD-TAMSD nonequivalence proves reset GBM nonergodic. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.105.L012106 SN - 2470-0045 SN - 2470-0053 VL - 105 IS - 1 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wang, Wei A1 - Cherstvy, Andrey G. A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Sokolov, Igor M. T1 - Restoring ergodicity of stochastically reset anomalous-diffusion processes JF - Physical Review Research N2 - How do different reset protocols affect ergodicity of a diffusion process in single-particle-tracking experiments? We here address the problem of resetting of an arbitrary stochastic anomalous-diffusion process (ADP) from the general mathematical points of view and assess ergodicity of such reset ADPs for an arbitrary resetting protocol. The process of stochastic resetting describes the events of the instantaneous restart of a particle’s motion via randomly distributed returns to a preset initial position (or a set of those). The waiting times of such resetting events obey the Poissonian, Gamma, or more generic distributions with specified conditions regarding the existence of moments. Within these general approaches, we derive general analytical results and support them by computer simulations for the behavior of the reset mean-squared displacement (MSD), the new reset increment-MSD (iMSD), and the mean reset time-averaged MSD (TAMSD). For parental nonreset ADPs with the MSD(t)∝ tμ we find a generic behavior and a switch of the short-time growth of the reset iMSD and mean reset TAMSDs from ∝ _μ for subdiffusive to ∝ _1 for superdiffusive reset ADPs. The critical condition for a reset ADP that recovers its ergodicity is found to be more general than that for the nonequilibrium stationary state, where obviously the iMSD and the mean TAMSD are equal. The consideration of the new statistical quantifier, the iMSD—as compared to the standard MSD—restores the ergodicity of an arbitrary reset ADP in all situations when the μth moment of the waiting-time distribution of resetting events is finite. Potential applications of these new resetting results are, inter alia, in the area of biophysical and soft-matter systems. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.013161 SN - 2643-1564 VL - 4 SP - 013161-1 EP - 013161-13 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park, Maryland, United States ET - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vinod, Deepak A1 - Cherstvy, Andrey G. A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Sokolov, Igor M. T1 - Time-averaging and nonergodicity of reset geometric Brownian motion with drift JF - Physical review : E, Statistical, nonlinear and soft matter physics N2 - How do near-bankruptcy events in the past affect the dynamics of stock-market prices in the future? Specifically, what are the long-time properties of a time-local exponential growth of stock-market prices under the influence of stochastically occurring economic crashes? Here, we derive the ensemble- and time-averaged properties of the respective "economic" or geometric Brownian motion (GBM) with a nonzero drift exposed to a Poissonian constant-rate price-restarting process of "resetting." We examine-based both on thorough analytical calculations and on findings from systematic stochastic computer simulations-the general situation of reset GBM with a nonzero [positive] drift and for all special cases emerging for varying parameters of drift, volatility, and reset rate in the model. We derive and summarize all short- and long-time dependencies for the mean-squared displacement (MSD), the variance, and the mean time-averaged MSD (TAMSD) of the process of Poisson-reset GBM under the conditions of both rare and frequent resetting. We consider three main regions of model parameters and categorize the crossovers between different functional behaviors of the statistical quantifiers of this process. The analytical relations are fully supported by the results of computer simulations. In particular, we obtain that Poisson-reset GBM is a nonergodic stochastic process, with generally MSD(Delta) not equal TAMSD(Delta) and Variance(Delta) not equal TAMSD(Delta) at short lag times Delta and for long trajectory lengths T. We investigate the behavior of the ergodicity-breaking parameter in each of the three regions of parameters and examine its dependence on the rate of reset at Delta/T << 1. Applications of these theoretical results to the analysis of prices of reset-containing options are pertinent. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.106.034137 SN - 2470-0045 SN - 2470-0053 VL - 106 IS - 3 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Xu, Pengbo A1 - Zhou, Tian A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Deng, Weihua T1 - Stochastic harmonic trapping of a Lévy walk BT - transport and first-passage dynamics under soft resetting strategies JF - New journal of physics : the open-access journal for physics / Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft ; IOP, Institute of Physics N2 - We introduce and study a Lévy walk (LW) model of particle spreading with a finite propagation speed combined with soft resets, stochastically occurring periods in which an harmonic external potential is switched on and forces the particle towards a specific position. Soft resets avoid instantaneous relocation of particles that in certain physical settings may be considered unphysical. Moreover, soft resets do not have a specific resetting point but lead the particle towards a resetting point by a restoring Hookean force. Depending on the exact choice for the LW waiting time density and the probability density of the periods when the harmonic potential is switched on, we demonstrate a rich emerging response behaviour including ballistic motion and superdiffusion. When the confinement periods of the soft-reset events are dominant, we observe a particle localisation with an associated non-equilibrium steady state. In this case the stationary particle probability density function turns out to acquire multimodal states. Our derivations are based on Markov chain ideas and LWs with multiple internal states, an approach that may be useful and flexible for the investigation of other generalised random walks with soft and hard resets. The spreading efficiency of soft-rest LWs is characterised by the first-passage time statistic. KW - diffusion KW - anomalous diffusion KW - stochastic resetting KW - Levy walks Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ac5282 SN - 1367-2630 VL - 24 IS - 3 SP - 1 EP - 28 PB - Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft CY - Bad Honnef ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Doerries, Timo J. A1 - Chechkin, Aleksei V. A1 - Metzler, Ralf T1 - Apparent anomalous diffusion and non-Gaussian distributions in a simple mobile-immobile transport model with Poissonian switching JF - Interface : journal of the Royal Society N2 - We analyse mobile-immobile transport of particles that switch between the mobile and immobile phases with finite rates. Despite this seemingly simple assumption of Poissonian switching, we unveil a rich transport dynamics including significant transient anomalous diffusion and non-Gaussian displacement distributions. Our discussion is based on experimental parameters for tau proteins in neuronal cells, but the results obtained here are expected to be of relevance for a broad class of processes in complex systems. Specifically, we obtain that, when the mean binding time is significantly longer than the mean mobile time, transient anomalous diffusion is observed at short and intermediate time scales, with a strong dependence on the fraction of initially mobile and immobile particles. We unveil a Laplace distribution of particle displacements at relevant intermediate time scales. For any initial fraction of mobile particles, the respective mean squared displacement (MSD) displays a plateau. Moreover, we demonstrate a short-time cubic time dependence of the MSD for immobile tracers when initially all particles are immobile. KW - diffusion KW - mobile-immobile model KW - tau proteins Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2022.0233 SN - 1742-5689 SN - 1742-5662 VL - 19 IS - 192 PB - Royal Society CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Guggenberger, Tobias A1 - Chechkin, Aleksei A1 - Metzler, Ralf T1 - Absence of stationary states and non-Boltzmann distributions of fractional Brownian motion in shallow external potentials JF - New journal of physics : the open-access journal for physics N2 - We study the diffusive motion of a particle in a subharmonic potential of the form U(x) = |x|( c ) (0 < c < 2) driven by long-range correlated, stationary fractional Gaussian noise xi ( alpha )(t) with 0 < alpha <= 2. In the absence of the potential the particle exhibits free fractional Brownian motion with anomalous diffusion exponent alpha. While for an harmonic external potential the dynamics converges to a Gaussian stationary state, from extensive numerical analysis we here demonstrate that stationary states for shallower than harmonic potentials exist only as long as the relation c > 2(1 - 1/alpha) holds. We analyse the motion in terms of the mean squared displacement and (when it exists) the stationary probability density function. Moreover we discuss analogies of non-stationarity of Levy flights in shallow external potentials. KW - diffusion KW - Boltzmann distribution KW - fractional Brownian motion Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ac7b3c SN - 1367-2630 VL - 24 IS - 7 PB - Dt. Physikalische Ges. CY - [Bad Honnef] ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Petreska, Irina A1 - Pejov, Ljupco A1 - Sandev, Trifce A1 - Kocarev, Ljupčo A1 - Metzler, Ralf T1 - Tuning of the dielectric relaxation and complex susceptibility in a system of polar molecules: a generalised model based on rotational diffusion with resetting JF - Fractal and fractional N2 - The application of the fractional calculus in the mathematical modelling of relaxation processes in complex heterogeneous media has attracted a considerable amount of interest lately. The reason for this is the successful implementation of fractional stochastic and kinetic equations in the studies of non-Debye relaxation. In this work, we consider the rotational diffusion equation with a generalised memory kernel in the context of dielectric relaxation processes in a medium composed of polar molecules. We give an overview of existing models on non-exponential relaxation and introduce an exponential resetting dynamic in the corresponding process. The autocorrelation function and complex susceptibility are analysed in detail. We show that stochastic resetting leads to a saturation of the autocorrelation function to a constant value, in contrast to the case without resetting, for which it decays to zero. The behaviour of the autocorrelation function, as well as the complex susceptibility in the presence of resetting, confirms that the dielectric relaxation dynamics can be tuned by an appropriate choice of the resetting rate. The presented results are general and flexible, and they will be of interest for the theoretical description of non-trivial relaxation dynamics in heterogeneous systems composed of polar molecules. KW - rotational diffusion KW - memory kernel KW - Fokker-Planck equation KW - non-exponential relaxation KW - autocorrelation function KW - complex KW - susceptibility Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/fractalfract6020088 SN - 2504-3110 VL - 6 IS - 2 PB - MDPI AG, Fractal Fract Editorial Office CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Thapa, Samudrajit A1 - Park, Seongyu A1 - Kim, Yeongjin A1 - Jeon, Jae-Hyung A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Lomholt, Michael A. T1 - Bayesian inference of scaled versus fractional Brownian motion JF - Journal of physics : A, mathematical and theoretical N2 - We present a Bayesian inference scheme for scaled Brownian motion, and investigate its performance on synthetic data for parameter estimation and model selection in a combined inference with fractional Brownian motion. We include the possibility of measurement noise in both models. We find that for trajectories of a few hundred time points the procedure is able to resolve well the true model and parameters. Using the prior of the synthetic data generation process also for the inference, the approach is optimal based on decision theory. We include a comparison with inference using a prior different from the data generating one. KW - Bayesian inference KW - scaled Brownian motion KW - single particle tracking Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1751-8121/ac60e7 SN - 1751-8113 SN - 1751-8121 VL - 55 IS - 19 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sandev, Trifce A1 - Domazetoski, Viktor A1 - Kocarev, Ljupco A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Chechkin, Aleksei T1 - Heterogeneous diffusion with stochastic resetting JF - Journal of physics : A, Mathematical and theoretical N2 - We study a heterogeneous diffusion process (HDP) with position-dependent diffusion coefficient and Poissonian stochastic resetting. We find exact results for the mean squared displacement and the probability density function. The nonequilibrium steady state reached in the long time limit is studied. We also analyse the transition to the non-equilibrium steady state by finding the large deviation function. We found that similarly to the case of the normal diffusion process where the diffusion length grows like t (1/2) while the length scale xi(t) of the inner core region of the nonequilibrium steady state grows linearly with time t, in the HDP with diffusion length increasing like t ( p/2) the length scale xi(t) grows like t ( p ). The obtained results are verified by numerical solutions of the corresponding Langevin equation. KW - heterogeneous diffusion KW - Fokker-Planck equation KW - Langevin equation KW - stochastic resetting KW - nonequilibrium stationary state KW - large deviation function Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1751-8121/ac491c SN - 1751-8113 SN - 1751-8121 VL - 55 IS - 7 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Doerries, Timo J. A1 - Chechkin, Aleksei A1 - Schumer, Rina A1 - Metzler, Ralf T1 - Rate equations, spatial moments, and concentration profiles for mobile-immobile models with power-law and mixed waiting time distributions JF - Physical review : E, Statistical, nonlinear and soft matter physics N2 - We present a framework for systems in which diffusion-advection transport of a tracer substance in a mobile zone is interrupted by trapping in an immobile zone. Our model unifies different model approaches based on distributed-order diffusion equations, exciton diffusion rate models, and random-walk models for multirate mobile-immobile mass transport. We study various forms for the trapping time dynamics and their effects on the tracer mass in the mobile zone. Moreover, we find the associated breakthrough curves, the tracer density at a fixed point in space as a function of time, and the mobile and immobile concentration profiles and the respective moments of the transport. Specifically, we derive explicit forms for the anomalous transport dynamics and an asymptotic power-law decay of the mobile mass for a Mittag-Leffler trapping time distribution. In our analysis we point out that even for exponential trapping time densities, transient anomalous transport is observed. Our results have direct applications in geophysical contexts, but also in biological, soft matter, and solid state systems. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.105.014105 SN - 2470-0045 SN - 2470-0053 SN - 2470-0061 VL - 105 IS - 1 PB - The American Institute of Physics CY - Woodbury, NY ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Grebenkov, Denis S. A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Oshanin, Gleb T1 - Search efficiency in the Adam-Delbruck reduction-of-dimensionality scenario versus direct diffusive search JF - New journal of physics : the open-access journal for physics N2 - The time instant-the first-passage time (FPT)-when a diffusive particle (e.g., a ligand such as oxygen or a signalling protein) for the first time reaches an immobile target located on the surface of a bounded three-dimensional domain (e.g., a hemoglobin molecule or the cellular nucleus) is a decisive characteristic time-scale in diverse biophysical and biochemical processes, as well as in intermediate stages of various inter- and intra-cellular signal transduction pathways. Adam and Delbruck put forth the reduction-of-dimensionality concept, according to which a ligand first binds non-specifically to any point of the surface on which the target is placed and then diffuses along this surface until it locates the target. In this work, we analyse the efficiency of such a scenario and confront it with the efficiency of a direct search process, in which the target is approached directly from the bulk and not aided by surface diffusion. We consider two situations: (i) a single ligand is launched from a fixed or a random position and searches for the target, and (ii) the case of 'amplified' signals when N ligands start either from the same point or from random positions, and the search terminates when the fastest of them arrives to the target. For such settings, we go beyond the conventional analyses, which compare only the mean values of the corresponding FPTs. Instead, we calculate the full probability density function of FPTs for both scenarios and study its integral characteristic-the 'survival' probability of a target up to time t. On this basis, we examine how the efficiencies of both scenarios are controlled by a variety of parameters and single out realistic conditions in which the reduction-of-dimensionality scenario outperforms the direct search. KW - first-passage times KW - Adam-Delbruck scenario KW - dimensional reduction KW - bulk KW - and surface diffusion Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ac8824 SN - 1367-2630 VL - 24 IS - 8 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Padash, Amin A1 - Sandev, Trifce A1 - Kantz, Holger A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Chechkin, Aleksei T1 - Asymmetric Levy flights are more efficient in random search JF - Fractal and fractional N2 - We study the first-arrival (first-hitting) dynamics and efficiency of a one-dimensional random search model performing asymmetric Levy flights by leveraging the Fokker-Planck equation with a delta-sink and an asymmetric space-fractional derivative operator with stable index alpha and asymmetry (skewness) parameter beta. We find exact analytical results for the probability density of first-arrival times and the search efficiency, and we analyse their behaviour within the limits of short and long times. We find that when the starting point of the searcher is to the right of the target, random search by Brownian motion is more efficient than Levy flights with beta <= 0 (with a rightward bias) for short initial distances, while for beta>0 (with a leftward bias) Levy flights with alpha -> 1 are more efficient. When increasing the initial distance of the searcher to the target, Levy flight search (except for alpha=1 with beta=0) is more efficient than the Brownian search. Moreover, the asymmetry in jumps leads to essentially higher efficiency of the Levy search compared to symmetric Levy flights at both short and long distances, and the effect is more pronounced for stable indices alpha close to unity. KW - asymmetric Levy flights KW - first-arrival density KW - search efficiency Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/fractalfract6050260 SN - 2504-3110 VL - 6 IS - 5 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vilk, Ohad A1 - Aghion, Erez A1 - Nathan, Ran A1 - Toledo, Sivan A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Assaf, Michael T1 - Classification of anomalous diffusion in animal movement data using power spectral analysis JF - Journal of physics : A, Mathematical and theoretical N2 - The field of movement ecology has seen a rapid increase in high-resolution data in recent years, leading to the development of numerous statistical and numerical methods to analyse relocation trajectories. Data are often collected at the level of the individual and for long periods that may encompass a range of behaviours. Here, we use the power spectral density (PSD) to characterise the random movement patterns of a black-winged kite (Elanus caeruleus) and a white stork (Ciconia ciconia). The tracks are first segmented and clustered into different behaviours (movement modes), and for each mode we measure the PSD and the ageing properties of the process. For the foraging kite we find 1/f noise, previously reported in ecological systems mainly in the context of population dynamics, but not for movement data. We further suggest plausible models for each of the behavioural modes by comparing both the measured PSD exponents and the distribution of the single-trajectory PSD to known theoretical results and simulations. KW - diffusion KW - anomalous diffusion KW - power spectral analysis KW - ecological KW - movement data Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1751-8121/ac7e8f SN - 1751-8113 SN - 1751-8121 VL - 55 IS - 33 PB - IOP Publishing CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stojkoski, Viktor A1 - Jolakoski, Petar A1 - Pal, Arnab A1 - Sandev, Trifce A1 - Kocarev, Ljupco A1 - Metzler, Ralf T1 - Income inequality and mobility in geometric Brownian motion with stochastic resetting: theoretical results and empirical evidence of non-ergodicity JF - Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, physical and engineering sciences N2 - We explore the role of non-ergodicity in the relationship between income inequality, the extent of concentration in the income distribution, and income mobility, the feasibility of an individual to change their position in the income rankings. For this purpose, we use the properties of an established model for income growth that includes 'resetting' as a stabilizing force to ensure stationary dynamics. We find that the dynamics of inequality is regime-dependent: it may range from a strictly non-ergodic state where this phenomenon has an increasing trend, up to a stable regime where inequality is steady and the system efficiently mimics ergodicity. Mobility measures, conversely, are always stable over time, but suggest that economies become less mobile in non-ergodic regimes. By fitting the model to empirical data for the income share of the top earners in the USA, we provide evidence that the income dynamics in this country is consistently in a regime in which non-ergodicity characterizes inequality and immobility. Our results can serve as a simple rationale for the observed real-world income dynamics and as such aid in addressing non-ergodicity in various empirical settings across the globe.This article is part of the theme issue 'Kinetic exchange models of societies and economies'. KW - income inequality KW - income mobility KW - geometric Brownian motion KW - non-ergodicity KW - stochastic resetting Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2021.0157 SN - 1364-503X SN - 1471-2962 VL - 380 IS - 2224 PB - Royal Society CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Padash, Amin A1 - Aghion, Erez A1 - Schulz, Alexander A1 - Barkai, Eli A1 - Chechkin, Aleksei V. A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Kantz, Holger T1 - Local equilibrium properties of ultraslow diffusion in the Sinai model JF - New journal of physics N2 - We perform numerical studies of a thermally driven, overdamped particle in a random quenched force field, known as the Sinai model. We compare the unbounded motion on an infinite 1-dimensional domain to the motion in bounded domains with reflecting boundaries and show that the unbounded motion is at every time close to the equilibrium state of a finite system of growing size. This is due to time scale separation: inside wells of the random potential, there is relatively fast equilibration, while the motion across major potential barriers is ultraslow. Quantities studied by us are the time dependent mean squared displacement, the time dependent mean energy of an ensemble of particles, and the time dependent entropy of the probability distribution. Using a very fast numerical algorithm, we can explore times up top 10(17) steps and thereby also study finite-time crossover phenomena. KW - Sinai diffusion KW - clustering KW - local equilibrium Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ac7df8 SN - 1367-2630 VL - 24 IS - 7 PB - IOP Publishing CY - Bristol ER -