TURNOVER IN THE MEAN SURVIVAL-TIME FOR A PARTICLE MOVING BETWEEN 2 TRAPS

There is presently no solution to the problem of characterizing the st atistics of trapping of a one-dimensional Brownian particle that moves between two traps, when velocity is relevant. We analyze a simplified version of this problem in which the continuous velocity is replaced by three velocities, +/-upsilon and 0, allowing the particle to make r andom transitions between these states. This model is easily solved an d exhibits turnover behavior as a function of the noise intensity (i.e ., the jump rate). (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.