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ü Drag forces, viscosity, electrical resistance, they are all traces of the microscopic dynamics left behind in the
macroscopic models when the enormous degrees of freedom in the original many-body problem were integrated
away to leave a simple deterministic description.
ü Renewed interest in the study of stochastic processes, particularly in the context of microfluidics, nanoscale devices
or in the study of cellular processes and the behavior of complex systems.
• If we consider f(x,t) the number of particles per unit volume, the number of particles found at time t+𝜏 in between x and x+dx is
Under the same coarse-graining of the observaLon Lme-scale that permits the physical process to be described as
Markovian, the Chapman-Kolmogorov equaLon reduces to the simpler master equaLon.
M. von Smoluchowski (1906) Ann. Physik 21:756.
The condiLonal probability density P(x,t) for an unbiased random walk obeys the
equaLon
which is an example of a master equaLon with discrete states. Moreover, in a certain limit, the Smoluchowski model
reduces to Einstein's diffusion equaLon.
In problems where the state space is inherently discrete, such as molecule numbers or animal populaLons, Smoluchowski's
methodology is parLcularly convenient. It is not difficult to imagine various classes of more complicated processes that can
be constructed along similar lines by allowing, for example, mulLple steps, biased transiLon rates, state-dependent
transiLon rates, mulLdimensional or complex laZces, etc
23/11/22 M. Carmen Miguel López
3
A few years aOer Einstein and Smoluchowski’s work, Paul Langevin developed a new method for studying Brownian moLon.
Langevin arrives at the same result for the mean-squared displacement as Einstein, although coming from a very different
perspecLve P. Langevin (1908) C. R. Acad. Sci. (Paris) 146:530.
Soon aOer Langevin’s paper, several outstanding contribuLons to the theory of Brownian moLon appeared. In
parLcular, in 1930 the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck paper sought to strengthen the foundaLons of Langevin’s approach.
G. E. Uhlenbeck and L. S. Ornstein (1930) Phys. Rev. 36:823.
Ornstein and Uhlenbeck provided a mathemaLcal connecLon between the kinemaLc approach of Einstein (using a parLal
differenLal equaLon to describe the probability distribuLon) and the dynamical approach of Langevin. 4
What is a stochas*c process?
Suppose we are given an experiment specified by its outcome 𝜔 ∈ Ω (Ω=the set of all possible outcomes), and by the
probability of occurrence of certain subsets of Ω. For example, in the tossing of a die, Ω ={1,2,3,4,5,6}.
To every outcome 𝜔 we now assign a funcLon of Lme 𝜉(𝜔,t). We have thus created a family of funcLons, one for each 𝜔.
This family is called a stochasLc process (or a random funcLon ). Usually, t ∈ ℝ, although it could also be that t ∈ [0,T]. Then
a stochasLc process is a random funcLon of two variables, 𝜔 and t .
In that way, a stochas<c process can be regarded either as a family of realiza<ons 𝜉𝜔 (t) or as a family of random variables 𝜉 t(𝜔). No<ce that
Einstein's point of view was to treat Brownian mo<on as a distribu<on of a random variable describing posi<on (𝜉 t(𝜔)), while Langevin took
the point of view that Newton's laws of mo<on apply to an individual realiza<on (𝜉𝜔 (t)).
We can denote the stochastic process simply by ξ(t) (Note that I will also use the notation x(t) in the following lectures). 5
Remember: The nth-order joint distributions
CumulaLve distribuLon funcLon
The nth-order distribution function determines all lower-order distribution functions, and in fact, it completely
determines the stochastic process.
The condiLonal
probability density
Moreover
one has:
Mean with
Alterna<vely
Correlations
6
Sta8onary process: The stochasLc process ξ(t) is staLonary if all finite dimensional distribuLon funcLons defining ξ(t) remain
unchanged when the whole group of points is shiOed along the Lme axis
for any n,t1,t2,...,tn and τ. In particular, all one-dimensional cumulative distribution functions must be identical
(i.e. F (x, t) = F (x) cannot depend on t); all 2-dimensional cumulative distribution functions can only depend upon |t1 − t2|
Purely random process: Successive values of ξ(t) are staLsLcally independent, i.e.
in other words, all the information about the process is contained in the 1st-order density.
Markov process: Defined by the fact that the conditional probability density enjoys the property,
In Einstein’s study of Brownian mo<on,
this property is approximately sa<sfied
by the process over the coarse-grained
<me scale
That is, the condiLonal probability density at tn, given the value xn−1 at tn−1, is not
affected by the values at earlier Lmes. In this sense, the process is “without memory.”
A Markov process is fully determined by the two funcLons and 7
3.1 Discrete Markov processes
We first deal with stochasLc processes in discrete space and Lme. They are parLcularly useful to establish the basic
mathemaLcal tools that will be later extended to conLnuous space and Lme, into the form of stochasLc differenLal
equaLons.
Markov chains
Markov chains are stochasLc processes discrete in Lme and in the state space, where the value assumed by each
stochasLc variable depends on the value taken by the same variable at the previous instant of Lme.
ü We assume that the stochastic variable x(t) takes values at each instant of time t over a set of N states,
S = {s1, s2, . . .,sN−1, sN}.
ü We also assume that x(t) is measured at equal finite time intervals, so that time becomes a discrete variable,
equivalent, in some arbitrary time unit, to the ordered sequence of natural numbers, t = 1, 2, . . . , n, . . .
ü The basic quantity we want to deal with is the probability, p(x(t) = si), that x(t) is in state si at time t.
If p(x(t) = si) does not depend on the previous history of the stochastic process, we are dealing with
the simple case of a sequence of independent events, like tossing a coin.
In general, one could expect that, if some time correlation (i.e. memory) is present in the evolution of x(t),
then p(x(t) = si) could depend also on the previous history of the stochastic process.
is finite and cannot be reduced, we say that the stochasLc process has memory n.
23/11/22 M. Carmen Miguel López 8
The case n = 1 defines a Markov process, where
=
is the transiLon probability in a unit Lme step from si to sj
Shorthand notation:
The stochastic dynamical rule of the Markov chain can be written as:
which saLsfy:
or as
Not that in the literature one does not usually write the condiGoning of the probability by the iniGal state, preferring instead the shorthand notaGon pi(t). However,
remember that any probability governed by a master equaGon (or any other dynamical equaGon) is necessarily condiGoned by the iniGal distribuGon. 9
This matrix relaLon can be generalized to obtain
where Wn, the n power of W, is also a stochastic matrix, since it satisfies the same properties of W. In turn, this relation
also leads to another important relation concerning the stochastic matrix, the Chapman–Kolmogorov equation,
The Chapman-Kolmogorov equations extends to stochastic processes the law valid for deterministic dynamical systems,
where the evolution operator from time 0 to time (t + n) can be written as the composition of the evolution operator from
time 0 to time t with the evolution operator from time t to time t+n.
As usual for any N × N matrix it is useful to solve the eigenvalue problem det (W − λI) = 0, where I is the identity matrix
and λ is a scalar quantity, whose values solving the eigenvalue equation are called the spectrum of W.
ü Since W is not a symmetric matrix, its eigenvalues are not necessarily real numbers.
ü One should distinguish between right and left eigenvectors of W. We denote the right ones as
The spectrum of W has the following properties (see proof in Appendix notes on the Campus Virtual):
1.
2. There is at least one eigenvalue
3. is either an eigenvector with eigenvalue equal to 1, or it satisfies the condition 10
Definitions
Accesible state: A state sj is accessible from a state si if there is a finite value of 8me t such that (Wt)ji > 0.
Persistent and transient states: A state sj is persistent if the probability of returning to sj aGer some finite
8me t is 1, while it is transient if there is a finite probability of never returning to sj for any finite 8me t.
Thus, a persistent state will be visited infinitely many 3mes, while a transient state will be discarded by
the evolu8on aGer a sufficiently long 8me.
Irreducible Markov chain: A Markov chain is irreducible when all the states are accessible from any other
state.
Periodic Markov chain: A Markov chain is periodic when the return 8mes Tj on a state sj are all integer
mul8ples of a given period T.
Ergodic Markov chain: Let us consider a Markov chain with a finite state space, i.e. S = {s1, s2, . . . , sN}:
it is ergodic if it is irreducible, nonperiodic and all states are persistent.
The main property of ergodic Markov chains is that they determine a unique sta8onary probability distribu8on,
whis is given by the eigenvector which is the solu8on of the eigenvalue problem with λ = 1:
where A is a suitable vector with constant components that sum up to zero to fulfill the 3rd spectral condiLon. In
the limit t → ∞, w(1) is a true dynamical state of the stochasLc process, and, accordingly, it has to obey the
condiLons that all its components are nonnegaLve and that it is normalized.
Another important result is that the spectral properLes of an ergodic Markov chain determine the Lme scale of
convergence to the staLonary probability. If we order the eigenvalues such that:
the relaxaLon will be dominated by the longest Lme scale, i.e. the one corresponding to the eigenvalue λ(2)
Any probability on the state space at Lme t, p(t), can be wrixen as a suitable linear combinaLon of the eigenvectors
w(k) of the stochasLc matrix, which form an orthonormal basis:
23/11/22 12
M. Carmen Miguel López
3.2 The master equa*on and detailed balance
The dynamical rule of the Markov chain
can be rewritten as
The variaLon of the probability of being in state si in a unit Lme step can be obtained from the posiLve contribuLon of all
transiLon processes from any state sj to state si and from the negaLve contribuLon of all transiLon processes from state si
to any other state sj.
This form is parLcularly useful to define the condiLons under which one can obtain a staLonary probability, i.e. all pi are
independent of Lme t (the leO-hand side vanishes) and the staLonarity condiLon reads:
The laxer is called the detailed balance condiLon. A Markov chain whose stochasLc matrix elements obey this condiLon is
said to be reversible and it can be shown that it is also ergodic, with the staLonary probability p =w(1) represenLng the so-
called equilibrium probability. 13
23/11/22 M. Carmen Miguel López
The Monte Carlo method that you will use in the following computer lab session is one of the most useful
and widely employed applications of stochastic processes. The method aims at solving the problem of
the effective statistical sampling of suitable observables by a reversible Markov chain.
Remember that in the Metropolis algorithm, one uses the transition rates
Assuming the probability for each equilibrium state is known and equal to the corresponding Boltzmann factors,
the method provides the equilibrium average of an observable making use of a sufficiently long trajectory
(s1, s2, . . . , sn) in the state space of the Markov chain.
where rn is the probability per unit time that, being at site n, a jump occurs to site n − 1.
Conversely, gn is the probability per unit time that, being at site n, a jump occurs to site n + 1.
Remember that Smoluchowski applied this model to the study of Brownian motion
by setting the generation and recombination probabilities to 1/2: gn = rn = 1/2.
Defining the probability density as the probability that a random walker beginning at n at time t = 0
will be at site m after s steps, the master equation for this unbounded random walk is
By applying the stochasLc evoluLon rule one obtains that the probability of finding the system in state a at Lme t+1:
You can find the solution by simple algebra, and also from the analysis of eigenvalues (λ(1) = 1 and λ(2) = 1-q-r) and
eigenvectors of W (Homework)
Ansatz
Where is the iniLal condiLon, i.e. the probability of observing the state a at Lme 0.
There are two limiLng cases: (i) r = q = 0, no dynamics occurs; (ii) r = q = 1, dynamics oscillates between state a and state b.
In all other cases, and in the limit t → ∞, pa → α and pb → (1 − α). More precisely, pa(t) converges exponenLally fast to α.
23/11/22 M. Carmen Miguel López 16
This simple Markov chain is irreducible and its states are accessible and persistent.
The dynamics approaches the staLonary state exponenLally fast with a characterisLc Lme
In addiLon, in the staLonary state this stochasLc process saLsfies a detailed balance condiLon:
that establishes a sort of Lme reversibility of the stochasLc process. Actually, in the staLonary state, the
probability of being in state a and passing in a unit Lme step to state b is equal to the probability of being
in b and passing in a unit Lme step to state a.
StochasLc matrix:
By applying the stochastic evolution rule one obtains that the probability of finding the system in state a at time t+1:
And in the staLonary state:
which has a simple constant soluLon
At long Lmes, the random walker will have lost any memory of its iniLal state and, since all sites are equivalent, the
staLonary state will correspond to an equal probability of visiLng any site. As in the previous example, the Markov chain
is irreducible and all its states are accessible and persistent.
The spectrum of W provides us with more detailed informaLon about this problem. Its eigenvectors saLsfy the equaLon:
NoLce that for r = 1/2 the eigenvalues λj are all real, but in general apart from λ0 = 1, they are complex.
For j = 0 we have λ0 = 1, indendently of the value of r, thus showing that the staLonary soluLon is the same both
for the asymmetric and symmetric random walk on a ring. On the other hand, for r ≠ 1/2 there is a bias for the
walker to move forward (r > 1/2) or backward (r < 1/2). Its staLonary soluLon is as expected.
23/11/22 M. Carmen Miguel López 19
3.3 Con*nuous stochas*c processes
Many physical processes are bexer represented in conLnuous space and Lme. Here we first provide a conLnuous Lme
version of stochasLc processes, while keeping the discrete nature of the state space.
We derive the conLnuous Lme version of the master equaLon making use of the Chapman–Kolmogorov relaLon
Due to the normalizaLon condiLon, all these transiLon rates are not independent and saLsfy
AOer subsLtuLng these last two expressions in the Chapman-Kolmogorov relaLon, we can write
Note: Now the transition matrix Wt should be understood as a transition matrix depending on the continuous parameter t. 20
Dividing by the infinitesimal Lme increment and taking the limit one obtains the conLnuous Lme
master equaLon:
which can also be writen in terms of the probability associated to each state as a funcLon of Lme. Using
one can obtain the continuous time master equation in the form
The equaLon tells us that the variaLon in Lme of the probability of being
in state si is obtained from the posiLve contribuLon of all transiLon
processes from any state sk to state si and from the negaLve contribuLon
of all transiLon processes from state si to any other state sk.
23/11/22 M. Carmen Miguel López 21
We finally provide a conLnuous version, both in the state space and Lme, for the Chapman-Kolmogorov and for the
master equaLon.
and integraLng over x1, we obtain the stochasLc dynamic equaLon in terms of the transiLon (condiLonal) probality:
Remember: If we integrate the joint density func<on
f(x1, . . . , xn) with respect to certain variables, we obtain
(Eq. I) the joint density of the remaining variables (called the
marginal density); e.g.
and using
23/11/22 M. Carmen Miguel López 22
We get the conLnuous Chapman-Kolmogorov equaLon:
(Eq. II)
which is a funcLonal equaLon relaLng all condiLonal probability densiLes for a Markov process.
Remarks:
1. The Chapman-Kolmogorov equaLon is a funcLonal equaLon for the transiLon probability f(xi,ti|xj,tj). Its
soluLon would give us a complete descripLon of any Markov process – Unfortunately, no general soluLon to this
equaLon is known. Keep in mind that it is a non- linear equaLon in the transiLon probabiliLes.
2. From the meaning of f(x,t|x0,t0), it is clear that we must have, f(x,t|x0,t0)→δ(x−x0) as t→t0.
23/11/22 M. Carmen Miguel López 23
For a stationary Markov process, we can introduce the time difference and redefine
with
The Chapman-Kolmogorov equaLon allows to build up the condiLonal probability densiLes over the “long” Lme
interval (t1,t3) from those over the “short” intervals (t1,t2) and (t2,t3). It turns out this is an incredibly useful
property since, from our knowledge of the transiLon probability at small Lmes we can build up our knowledge of
the transiLon probability at all Lmes iteraLvely from the Chapman-Kolmogorov equaLon.
an integro-differenLal equaLon where w(x|z) is the transiLon probability per unit Lme, or the transiLon rate.
IntegraLng over x1, we can alternaLvely write it in the more general form
In the master equation, one considers the transition rates, w(xj|xi), as a given function determined by the specific
physical system, and the resulting equation is linear in the conditional probability density which determines the
(mesoscopic) state of that system.
Although it’s more tractable than the Chapman-Kolmogorov equation, it is difficult to find exact solutions. Moreover, the
transition rates are often nonlinear, and approximated perturbative methods are usually required. (See Applications chapter.)
A way out of this problem is the introduction of the Wiener process, which can be considered the continuous time
version of a random walk. The basic idea is quite simple: we use the integrated stochastic force to define a new
stochastic process that can be made continuous in time,
The staLsLcal average has to be thought of as the average over the realizaLons of the stochasLc process. If
and
meaning that the average squared amplitude of the Wiener process diffuses in Lme.
23/11/22 M. Carmen Miguel López 26
The Wiener process is not a stationary process, since its correlations do not only depend on the temporal
difference (t-t’).
Moreover, it has the following properties:
1. Wi(t) is a stochastic process continuous in time and with zero average, ⟨Wi(t)⟩ = 0.
2. For any t1 < t2 < t3 the increments (Wi(t2) − Wi(t1)) and (Wi(t3) − Wi(t2)) are independent quantities, following
the same distribution.
3. For any t1 < t2 the probability distribution of the increments (Wi(t2) − Wi(t1)) is a Gaussian with zero average
and variance (t2 − t1), which is a consequence of the central limit theorem.
Notice that Wi(t) is not differentiable, meaning that we cannot define its time derivative, but we can define its
infinitesimal increment dWi(t) for an arbitrary small time interval dt,
which implies
To simplify notaLon, the infinitesimal increment of the Wiener process is usually redefined as
where is a stochasLc process with zero average and unit variance. This relaLon axributes to the amplitude of
the infinitesimal increment of the Wiener process a physical scale given by the square root of the infinitesimal
Lme increment dt.
and will integrate this general stochasLc differenLal equaLon, conLnuous in both space and Lme, to formally obtain:
If we want to extract any useful information from this formal solution, we have to perform its statistical average with
respect to the Wiener process. Here, one has to face another problem, and it is that the last integral is not uniquely
defined when averaged over the stochastic process. In fact, according to basic analysis, the integral of a standard
function f(t) can be estimated by the Euler approximations
Itô discreLzaLon
Stratonovich discretization
Itô and Stratonovich formulations are not equivalent. Thus, when dealing with models based on stochastic equations,
we have to choose and explicitly declare which formulation we are adopting to integrate the equations.
To see this, we can approximate:
where Wʹ indicates that, in general, it is a different realization of the Wiener process, and
is the functional derivative of f(t) with respect to Wʹ at ti.
In many applications it is advisable using the Itô formulation, because the property indicated right above, makes
calculations simpler. Nevertheless, when noise is multiplicative (it depends on the stochastic process) rather than
additive, the two formulations are known to differ and the Stratonovich one is preferable.
For example, if we write the Langevin equation for the kinetic energy of a Brownian particle
MulLplicaLve noise
it is necessary to use the Stratonovich prescription to obtain the simple form of the fluctuation-dissipation relation.
where X(0) is the initial position of the particle. By averaging over the Wiener process we finally obtain
we can obtain
In the longtime limit t → +∞ the average displacement vanishes, irrespectively of the initial condition, while the
variance of the stochastic process converges to D/k. The stochastic particle diffuses around the origin and its mean
squared displacement is distributed according to a Gaussian with zero average, while its variance is inversely
proportional to the Hook constant k and proportional to the amplitude of fluctuations, i.e. to the diffusion constant D.
If we want to recover the result for the Brownian particle, we should take the limit k → 0 before the limit t → ∞,
obtaining the expected result:
Moreover, we will consider a generic funcLon f(X(t),t) that is at least twice differenLable with respect to X. Thus, we can
write its Taylor series expansion as
and assume that X(t) obeys the general stochasLc differenLal equaLon Eq. (i) to, up to linear order in dt, obtain:
where we have also assumed that knowing that it is only true after averaging, i.e.
Indeed to obtain a formal solution, one has to integrate and average over the Wiener process.
Notice that any function f(X(t)), at least twice differentiable, obeys the same kind of stochastic differential equation
obeyed by the stochastic process X(t).
23/11/22 M. Carmen Miguel López 33
Let us assume that the funcLon f does not depend explicitly on Lme, i.e. and let us average over
the Wiener process, i.e.
One obtains
Or integrating by parts the two integrals on the right hand side, we can write
(ii)
where we have assumed that the probability density P(X, t) vanishes at the boundary of the state space S.
For example, in the case of a Brownian parLcle, the distribuLon funcLon of its posiLon in space vanishes at infinity.
General
Fokker-Planck
equa8on
The possibility of finding an explicit soluLon of this equaLon depends on the funcLonal forms of the generalized
driO coefficient a(X, t) and of the generalized diffusion coefficient b2/2. InteresLng physical examples correspond
to simple forms of these quanLLes. For a=0, we get back the diffusion equaLon for the probability.
Examples
1. Sta8onary Diffusion with Absorbing Barriers
The Fokker-Planck equation can be expressed in the form of a conservation law, or continuity equation,
with
a current of probability.
One can impose various boundary condiLons on I. For instance, the condiLon of reflec7ng barriers, i.e. no flux of
probability through the boundaries of I, amounts to J(X1,t) = J(X2,t) = 0 at any Lme t. Accordingly, the probability of
finding the walker inside I is conserved.
The condiLon of absorbing barriers implies that once the walker reaches X1 or X2, it will never come back to I, i.e.
P(X1,t) = P(X2,t) = 0 at any Lme t.
Moreover, when dealing with stochasLc systems defined on a finite interval (a typical situaLon of numerical simulaLons),
it may be useful to impose periodic boundary condi7ons that correspond to P(X1, t) = P(X2, t) and J(X1, t) = J(X2, t). In this
case the probability P is conserved not because the flux vanishes at the borders, but because the incoming and the
outgoing fluxes compensate each other.
where, in addiLon, the funcLons a(X) and b(X) do not depend on t. For instance, in the case that
pure diffusion, the general soluLon of this staLonary equaLon is of the form:
The integraLon constants C1 and C2 can be obtained from boundary
and normalizaLon condiLons.
(a) In the case of reflecLng barriers at X1 and X2 in the interval I, there is no flux through the boundaries, so that
the staLonary soluLon must correspond to no flux in I,
SoluLon:
where J− and J+ are the net fluxes of parLcles flowing in X1 and X2, respecLvely (and J− + J+ = F, because of maxer
conservaLon).
We now consider the Fokker–Planck equation for a particle subject to an external mechanical force F(x) generated
by a conservative potential U(x), i.e.,
with
Here D is the usual diffusion coefficient and the parameter γ ̃ is the viscous drag coefficient.
The staLonary soluLon in the long Lme limit, safisfies
And, in parLcular, the soluLon is the only possible equilibrium soluLon since
any (macroscopic) current must vanish at equilibrium. Thus we have
where A is a normalizaLon constant and we have used the Einstein relaLon D = T/γ .̃
As expected, we obtain the equilibrium Boltzmann distribuLon, where T is the equilibrium temperature.
But if there is a trap at x = 0, the probability p(x,t) must vanish in x = 0 at any t. The correct soluLon in this case can be
obtained by taking the linear combinaLon of px0 (x, t) and p−x0 (x, t), because it automaLcally saLsfies the boundary
condiLon p(0, t) = 0 at all Lmes. The combinaLon is
The probability that the parLcle is trapped in x = 0 in the Lme interval (t, t + dt) is called the first passage probability,
f(t), and it is equal to the current |J| flowing in the origin, where J = −Dpʹ(x = 0), i.e.,
The average posiLon of the parLcle is easily evaluated from the definiLon:
And thus, the presence of a trap does not modify the average posiLon of the walker.
Nevertheless, in the limit t → ∞, if k ≠ 0 its two cumulants become (NOTE that in this limit, this result is a
parLcular case of the previous example with a conservaLve harmonic potenLal):
This asymptoLc constant value is the result of the balance between diffusion (which
would tend to increase fluctuaLons) and the elasLc restoring force (which suppresses
fluctuaLons).
If the dependence on the iniLal state is understood, then it may be rewrixen in a short-hand form as
We introduce the jump-size so that we can rewrite the transition probabilities in terms of . The
transition probability w(y|y’) is the probability per unit time that starting at y’, there is a jump of size . We write
this as, Similarly, we re-write the transition probability
With this change in notation, the master equation becomes,
=
After which, we can write
Note the dependence of w(y, ) on the second argument is fully maintained; an expansion with respect to is not
possible since w varies rapidly with .
23/11/22 M. Carmen Miguel López 44
Since
where
We could also include all terms in the Taylor expansion used above and obtain the Kramers-Moyal expansion,
with
This expression is formally equivalent to the master equation, but to be practical the expansion must be truncated
at a certain point – the Fokker-Planck equation, for example, is the result of truncation after two terms. It is
equivalent to what Einstein used in his derivation of the diffusion equation for a Brownian particle!
Consider a stationary, Markov process – one dimensional, for simplicity. Write the Chapman-Kolmogorov equation as,
Furthermore, assume that for only the 1st and 2nd moments become proportional to and assume
all higher moments vanish in that limit. Then, the following limits exist,
Now, let R(y) be a suitable test function, possessing all properties required for the following operations to be well-defined,
and note that,
We expand R(y) around the point y = z and interchange the order of integration. Since we have assumed all jump
moments beyond the second vanish, we are left with,
Recall that R(y) is an arbitrary test funcLon, with all the necessary properLes for
both R(y) and as as fast as necessary to saLsfy:
Note that the Kolmogorov equation is an evolution equation for the conditional probability density, and that it must
be solved subject to the initial condition:
The backward Kolmogorov equaLon describes the evoluLon of probability with respect to the iniLal condiLon. It is
a useful equaLon for some applicaLons, such as the one discussed in the following secLon.
See the derivation of the Kramers–Moyal expansion and the derivation of the backward Kolmogorov equation in
Appendix E of Livi & Politi book.
One can also define the probability density of the first exit time from the interval I, starting at X0 (although to
simplify the notation in the arguments of this quantity we have eliminated the explicit dependence on I and X0). By
definition we have
where the last expression has been obtained integrating by parts and assuming that vanishes sufficiently
rapidly for t → +∞.
Now, we will consider the backward Kolmogorov equaLon for the transiLon probability for the
diffusive case, b (X, t) = 2D, with a Lme independent driO term. The backward Kolmogorov equaLon reads
2
For the case without driO a(X) = 0 and for absorbing boundaries and ⟨TI(X1)⟩ = ⟨TI(X2)⟩ = 0, the soluLon is
An interesLng applicaLon of these methods and results is in game theory, such as in the gambler’s ruin problem,
a classical problem where a gambler bets repeatedly $1 on the flip of a potenLally biased coin unLl he either loses
all his money or wins the money of his opponent. (Ini<al posi<on – Amount of money when he/she starts playing!)
In chapter 4, we will generalize this calculaLon for the case of non-zero driO, which will allow us to account for a
more interesLng problem, the problem of the escape Lme of a stochasLc diffusive process from an asymmetric
potenLal U(X) which includes an energy barrier. This last situaLon appears many Lmes in biological applicaLons
and, in general, in the physics of complex systems.
Paul Lévy pioneered the statistical description of anomalous diffusive stochastic processes that are usually called Lévy
processes; observed for instance, in the searching trajectories of different animals (see Figures). When animals have
no information about where targets (i.e., resource patches, mates, etc.) are located, different random search strategies
(that can be described by different classes of generalized random walks) may provide better chances to find them.
hxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kK0meGXj2o
Mathematically, if we assume that the space where the random walker moves is isotropic, we have to assume that a
jump of length x is equally probable to a jump of length –x, that is
and
which means that the position x can be reached at time t by any walker that arrived at any other position x − y at time
t − τ , by making a jump of length y (−∞ < y < +∞) after a waiting time τ (0 ≤ τ ≤ t).
Moreover, we can use p(x,t) and the survival probability ψ(t) to obtain the probability that a continuous-time random
walker is at position x at time t,
It is the sum over the Lme intervals τ during which a walker, which arrived
at x at any previous Lme t − τ , survived unLl Lme t.
One can use the Fourier–Laplace transformation to solve these integral equations. If k and s are the dual variables of x
and t, respectively. The first integral is a convolution product for both variables x and t; by Fourier-transforming on x and
by Laplace-transforming on t,
Thus the Fourier–Laplace transform of ρ (x, t), which is the density of CTRW walkers at x at time t,
from which we would be able to obtain the average value of all its moments (Remember the characterisLc funcLon of
the probability density )
It is interesting to investigate the limits k → 0 and s → 0, which provide information on the asymptotic behaviour
of ρ(x,t) at large distances and for long times. In fact, in these limits we can use the approximate expressions
and antitransforming
which is the Laplace-Fourier transform of the solution of the standard diffusion equation
Thus, in this case CTRWs are equivalent to Brownian moLon on large spaLo-temporal scales.
But apart from the standard diffusion behavior, ρ(x,t) may exhibit other three different universal behaviours which
only depend on the asymptoLcs of η(x) and ω(t), and thus on the behaviour of η(k) and ω(s) for small arguments:
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23/11/22 M. Carmen Miguel López
Frac*onal Brownian mo*on
With a CTRW model, one can also find anomalous diffusion. For instance, let us consider the case where σ2 is finite,
while the average residence time θ diverges. This means that the residence time distribution ω(t) is dominated by a
power law tail for t → +∞,
with 0 < α < 1 .
The average residence Lme diverges as t1−α in the limit t → +∞ and the CTRW describes a much slower evoluLon than
standard diffusion, i.e. a subdiffusive stochas7c process .
Following a similar procedure, in the limits k → 0 and s → 0 we can use the approximaLons
This expression can be read as the Fourier–Laplace transform of the following, fractional partial differential, equation
Nonexponential inter-event time distributions have been reported in different contexts, and make evident the
existence of memory effects and, thus, of non-Markovian dynamics.
These processes are known as Lévy flights. For symmetry reasons the first momentum of η(x) is zero, while the second
momentum is found to diverge as
and
From this result, it is not easy to perform the inverse transforms, but one can calculate the different moments of x(t):
Again for α = 2 we recover the standard diffusive behavior, while for α < 2 the mean squared displacement grows in time
more than linearly. In these conditions we talk about a superdiffusive process.
Notice that α = 1 corresponds to a ballistic propagation.
In general, Lévy processes are a general class of stochastic Markov processes with independent residence times and space
increments. The main feature of Lévy flights is that not all of its momenta are finite. As a consequence, it cannot be fully
characterized by its first two momenta as is the case for Gaussian probability distributions.
Their main drawback, though, is that we are implicitly assuming that each step lasts a fixed time interval, independent of
the step length. Since this can be arbitrarily large, the random walker seems to move with an arbitrarily large velocity, a
feature that is difficult to justify physically. Such physical interpretation can be restored by introducing Lévy walks, where
the distribution of lengths is the same as for Lévy flights but the path between the starting and the end points of a jump is
assumed to be run by the walker at constant velocity v; i.e., the time t spent in a jump is proportional to its length x, with
t = x/|v|. Then Lévy walks can also be viewed as processes where a walker moves at constant velocity in a time step t,
whose asymptotic distribution is of the form . If α < 2 the variance of ω(t) diverges and the distances of
the jumps run by the walker obey the probability distribution
Thus, with this model one can also describe superdiffusive behavior.
But now, the probability distribution of performing a step of length y in a time τ, must take into account the relation
between jump size and jump duration, i.e. with for large values of t.
Fourier-transforming on x and Laplace-transforming on t, now gives
where
Here we have to consider the probability that a LW moves exactly by a distance xʹ in a Lme τ, or in other words, that the
moLon of a walker proceeds at constant speed v under the condiLon that no other jump event occurs before Lme t.
The asymptotic pdf for the position of the ambivalent process can again be expressed in terms of a Fourier and a
Laplace inversion. The scaling of the second moment in this case:
The raLo of the exponents α/β resembles the interplay between sub- and superdiffusion. For β < 2α the ambivalent
CTRW is effecLvely superdiffusive, for β > 2α effecLvely subdiffusive. For β = 2α the process exhibits the same scaling
as ordinary Brownian moLon, despite the probability distribuLon is non-Gaussian.
The various types of asymptoLc universal behaviours are depicted in the following figure, which shows a phase
diagram spanned by the temporal exponent α and the spaLal exponent β.
Many materials are also not Markovian, and it would be more useful to write the equaLons of moLon using a
memory kernel γ1(t). For example, in the case of a Brownian parLcle immersed in a deformable surrounding media:
The thermal noise terms are now not so easy to deal with; the substrate noise term is now coloured, by the fluctuaLon
dissipaLon theorem
Moreover in the case of non-Markovian problems, it is not possible to write down a Fokker-Planck equaLon for these kind
of Langevin equaLons. Concepts, such as first-passage Lmes, no longer apply and need to be reconsidered.
Non-Markovian stochasLc processes are difficult to tackle analyLcally and, in many cases, their understanding relies
completely on numerical simulaLons.
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