Diffusion with stochastic resetting on a lattice

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Hartmann, Alexander K., Majumdar, Satya N.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Hartmann, Alexander K.
Majumdar, Satya N.
author_facet Hartmann, Alexander K.
Majumdar, Satya N.
contents We provide an exact formula for the mean first-passage time (MFPT) to a target at the origin for a single particle diffusing on a $d$-dimensional hypercubic {\em lattice} starting from a fixed initial position $\vec R_0$ and resetting to $\vec R_0$ with a rate $r$. Previously known results in the continuous space are recovered in the scaling limit $r\to 0$, $R_0=|\vec R_0|\to \infty$ with the product $\sqrt{r}\, R_0$ fixed. However, our formula is valid for any $r$ and any $\vec R_0$ that enables us to explore a much wider region of the parameter space that is inaccessible in the continuum limit. For example, we have shown that the MFPT, as a function of $r$ for fixed $\vec R_0$, diverges in the two opposite limits $r\to 0$ and $r\to \infty$ with a unique minimum in between, provided the starting point is not a nearest neighbour of the target. In this case, the MFPT diverges as a power law $\sim r^ϕ$ as $r\to \infty$, but very interestingly with an exponent $ϕ= (|m_1|+|m_2|+\ldots +|m_d|)-1$ that depends on the starting point $\vec R_0= a\, (m_1,m_2,\ldots, m_d)$ where $a$ is the lattice spacing and $m_i$'s are integers. If, on the other hand, the starting point happens to be a nearest neighbour of the target, then the MFPT decreases monotonically with increasing $r$, approaching a universal limiting value $1$ as $r\to \infty$, indicating that the optimal resetting rate in this case is infinity. We provide a simple physical reason and a simple Markov-chain explanation behind this somewhat unexpected universal result. Our analytical predictions are verified in numerical simulations on lattices up to $50$ dimensions. Finally, in the absence of a target, we also compute exactly the position distribution of the walker in the nonequlibrium stationary state that also displays interesting lattice effects not captured by the continuum theory.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_19903
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Diffusion with stochastic resetting on a lattice
Hartmann, Alexander K.
Majumdar, Satya N.
Statistical Mechanics
Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability
We provide an exact formula for the mean first-passage time (MFPT) to a target at the origin for a single particle diffusing on a $d$-dimensional hypercubic {\em lattice} starting from a fixed initial position $\vec R_0$ and resetting to $\vec R_0$ with a rate $r$. Previously known results in the continuous space are recovered in the scaling limit $r\to 0$, $R_0=|\vec R_0|\to \infty$ with the product $\sqrt{r}\, R_0$ fixed. However, our formula is valid for any $r$ and any $\vec R_0$ that enables us to explore a much wider region of the parameter space that is inaccessible in the continuum limit. For example, we have shown that the MFPT, as a function of $r$ for fixed $\vec R_0$, diverges in the two opposite limits $r\to 0$ and $r\to \infty$ with a unique minimum in between, provided the starting point is not a nearest neighbour of the target. In this case, the MFPT diverges as a power law $\sim r^ϕ$ as $r\to \infty$, but very interestingly with an exponent $ϕ= (|m_1|+|m_2|+\ldots +|m_d|)-1$ that depends on the starting point $\vec R_0= a\, (m_1,m_2,\ldots, m_d)$ where $a$ is the lattice spacing and $m_i$'s are integers. If, on the other hand, the starting point happens to be a nearest neighbour of the target, then the MFPT decreases monotonically with increasing $r$, approaching a universal limiting value $1$ as $r\to \infty$, indicating that the optimal resetting rate in this case is infinity. We provide a simple physical reason and a simple Markov-chain explanation behind this somewhat unexpected universal result. Our analytical predictions are verified in numerical simulations on lattices up to $50$ dimensions. Finally, in the absence of a target, we also compute exactly the position distribution of the walker in the nonequlibrium stationary state that also displays interesting lattice effects not captured by the continuum theory.
title Diffusion with stochastic resetting on a lattice
topic Statistical Mechanics
Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.19903