Steady state and relaxation dynamics of run and tumble particles in contact with a heat bath

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Autori principali: Singh, R. K., Farago, Oded
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Singh, R. K.
Farago, Oded
author_facet Singh, R. K.
Farago, Oded
contents We study the relaxation dynamics of a run and tumble particle in a one-dimensional piecewise linear potential $U(x)=b|x|$, from delta-function initial conditions at $x=0$ to steady state. In addition to experiencing active telegraphic noise, the particle is in contact with a heat bath at temperature $T$ that applies white thermal noise. We find that the position distribution of the RTP is described by a sum of two distributions ("modes"), each of which of the form $P(x,t\to\infty)\sim e^{-λ_i|x|}$ ($i=1,2$) at steady state. The two modes are dynamically coupled: At very short times ($t\to 0$), each mode stores half of the probability, and exhibits thermal diffusive spreading with a Gaussian profile. With progressing time and evolution toward steady state, the partition of probability between the modes becomes increasingly uneven and, depending on the model parameters, the mode with the smaller value of $λ_i$ may carry an overwhelming majority of the probability. Moreover, we identify that the characteristic relaxation time of each mode is $τ_i=(λ_i^2T)^{-1}$, which implies that the minority mode also relaxes much faster than the dominant one. A more detailed analysis reveals that $τ_i$ is characteristic of the mode relaxation only close to the origin at the core of the distribution, while further away it increases linearly with $|x|$ as if a relaxation front is propagating at constant speed $v_i^*=2\sqrt{T/τ_i}$ in the system. The rate of non-equilibrium entropy production can be related to the two-mode splitting of the probability distribution and be expressed in terms of their correlation-lengths $λ_i$ and their contributions to the steady state distribution.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_02645
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Steady state and relaxation dynamics of run and tumble particles in contact with a heat bath
Singh, R. K.
Farago, Oded
Statistical Mechanics
Soft Condensed Matter
We study the relaxation dynamics of a run and tumble particle in a one-dimensional piecewise linear potential $U(x)=b|x|$, from delta-function initial conditions at $x=0$ to steady state. In addition to experiencing active telegraphic noise, the particle is in contact with a heat bath at temperature $T$ that applies white thermal noise. We find that the position distribution of the RTP is described by a sum of two distributions ("modes"), each of which of the form $P(x,t\to\infty)\sim e^{-λ_i|x|}$ ($i=1,2$) at steady state. The two modes are dynamically coupled: At very short times ($t\to 0$), each mode stores half of the probability, and exhibits thermal diffusive spreading with a Gaussian profile. With progressing time and evolution toward steady state, the partition of probability between the modes becomes increasingly uneven and, depending on the model parameters, the mode with the smaller value of $λ_i$ may carry an overwhelming majority of the probability. Moreover, we identify that the characteristic relaxation time of each mode is $τ_i=(λ_i^2T)^{-1}$, which implies that the minority mode also relaxes much faster than the dominant one. A more detailed analysis reveals that $τ_i$ is characteristic of the mode relaxation only close to the origin at the core of the distribution, while further away it increases linearly with $|x|$ as if a relaxation front is propagating at constant speed $v_i^*=2\sqrt{T/τ_i}$ in the system. The rate of non-equilibrium entropy production can be related to the two-mode splitting of the probability distribution and be expressed in terms of their correlation-lengths $λ_i$ and their contributions to the steady state distribution.
title Steady state and relaxation dynamics of run and tumble particles in contact with a heat bath
topic Statistical Mechanics
Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.02645