The Memory Function of the Generalized Diffusion Equation of Active Motion

Abstract

An exact description of the statistical motion of active particles in three dimension is presented in the framework of a generalized diffusion equation. Such a generalization contemplates a non-local, in time and space, connecting (memory) function. This couples the rate of change of the probability density of finding the particle at position $\mathbf{x}$ at time $t$, with the Laplacian of the probability density at all previous times and to all points in space. Starting from the standard Fokker-Planck-like equation for the probability density of finding an active particle at position $\mathbf{x}$ swimming along the direction $\hat{\mathbf{v}}$ at time $t$, we derive in this paper, in an exact manner, the connecting function that allows a description of active motion in terms of this generalized diffusion equation.

This article is part of the issue: SPECIAL ISSUE: A Festschrift in Honor of Professor Vasudev M (Nitant) Kenkre