What happens when a continuously evolving stochastic process is interrupted with large changes at random intervals τ distributed as a power law ~τ^-(1+α);0.28em0exα>0? Modeling the stochastic process by diffusion and the large changes as abrupt resets to the initial condition, we obtain exact closed-form expressions for both static and dynamic quantities, while accounting for strong correlations implied by a power law. Our results show that the resulting dynamics exhibits a spectrum of rich long-time behavior, from an ever-spreading spatial distribution for α<1, to one that is time independent for α>1. The dynamics has strong consequences on the time to reach a distant target for the first time; we specifically show that there exists an optimal α that minimizes the mean time to reach the target, thereby offering a step towards a viable strategy to locate targets in a crowded environment.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Nagar et al. (2016) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: