Anomalous diffusion and relaxation close to thermal equilibrium: A fractional fokker-planck equation approach

Ralf Metzler, Eli Barkai, Joseph Klafter

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

746 Scopus citations

Abstract

We introduce a fractional Fokker-Planck equation describing the stochastic evolution of a particle under the combined influence of an external, nonlinear force and a thermal heat bath. For the force-free case, a subdiffusive behavior is recovered. The equation is shown to obey generalized Einstein relations, and its stationary solution is the Boltzmann distribution. The relaxation of single modes is shown to follow a Mittag-Leffler decay. We discuss the example of a particle in a harmonic potential.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3563-3567
Number of pages5
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume82
Issue number18
DOIs
StatePublished - 1999

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