Rate enhancement of gated drift-diffusion process by optimal resetting

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry and Biophysics
• Statistical Mechanics
• Physical Chemistry

Background:

• Gating describes ion-channel transitions between open and closed states, crucial for selective transport.
• Gated transport dynamics inherently slow down diffusion processes, increasing mean completion times.
• Stochastic resetting is a technique used to counteract delays in transport phenomena.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of stochastic resetting on gated drift-diffusion processes.
• To determine if stochastic resetting can accelerate gated transport and under what conditions.
• To construct a phase diagram illustrating the impact of resetting on completion times.

Main Methods:

• Modeling a particle undergoing drift-diffusion with a stochastically gated target at the origin.
• Subjecting the system to rate-limiting resetting dynamics.
• Calculating the minimal mean completion time using an optimal resetting rate.
• Analyzing the system's behavior across different resetting rates, gating parameters, and geometric configurations.

Main Results:

• A phase diagram revealing three distinct regimes based on the resetting rate's effectiveness.
• Identification of conditions where resetting accelerates gated drift-diffusion beyond ungated processes.
• Demonstration of non-trivial completion time behaviors influenced by system parameters.

Conclusions:

• Stochastic resetting can be a powerful strategy to enhance the efficiency of gated drift-diffusion processes.
• The study provides a framework for predicting when resetting can expedite biochemical reactions modeled by gated transport.
• This work offers insights into optimizing stochastic processes without sacrificing selectivity.