Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 9, 2025

The Diffusion of Passive Tracers in Laminar Shear Flow
Published on: May 1, 2018
Langevin picture of subdiffusion in nonuniformly expanding medium
Yao Chen1, Xudong Wang2, Wanli Wang3
1College of Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Anomalous diffusion phenomena have been observed in many complex physical and biological systems. One significant advance recently is the physical extension of particle's motion in a static medium to a uniformly and even nonuniformly expanding medium. The dynamic mechanism of the anomalous diffusion in the nonuniformly expanding medium has only been investigated by the approach of continuous-time random walk. To study more physical observables and to supplement the physical models of the anomalous diffusion in the expanding mediums, we characterize the nonuniformly expanding medium with a spatiotemporal dependent scale factor a(x,t) and build the Langevin picture describing the particle's motion in the nonuniformly expanding medium. Besides the existing comoving and physical coordinates, by introducing a new coordinate and assuming that a(x,t) is separable at a long-time limit, we build the relation between the nonuniformly expanding medium and the uniformly expanding one and further obtain the moments of the comoving and physical coordinates. Different forms of the scale factor a(x,t) are considered to uncover the combined effects of the particle's intrinsic diffusion and the nonuniform expansion of medium. The theoretical analyses and simulations provide the foundation for studying more anomalous diffusion phenomena in the expanding mediums.
More Related Videos
06:34In Situ Monitoring of Diffusion of Guest Molecules in Porous Media Using Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Imaging
Published on: September 2, 2016
06:55Synthesis of Cyclic Polymers and Characterization of Their Diffusive Motion in the Melt State at the Single Molecule Level
Published on: September 26, 2016
Related Concept Videos
Behavior of Gas Molecules: Molecular Diffusion, Mean Free Path, and Effusion
The de Broglie Wavelength
Diffusion on Chromatography Columns
Longitudinal diffusion occurs when the solute molecules in the mobile phase diffuse from the more concentrated center of the chromatographic band to the more dilute regions on either side, both towards and against the flow direction. This...
Sound as Pressure Waves
The pressure fluctuation depends on the difference in displacements between the successive points in the...
Protein Diffusion in the Membrane
Mean free path and Mean free time