Lévy processes on a generalized fractal comb

Trifce Sandev, Alexander Iomin, Vicenç Méndez

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

30 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

© 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd. Comb geometry, constituted of a backbone and fingers, is one of the most simple paradigm of a two-dimensional structure, where anomalous diffusion can be realized in the framework of Markov processes. However, the intrinsic properties of the structure can destroy this Markovian transport. These effects can be described by the memory and spatial kernels. In particular, the fractal structure of the fingers, which is controlled by the spatial kernel in both the real and the Fourier spaces, leads to the Lévy processes (Lévy flights) and superdiffusion. This generalization of the fractional diffusion is described by the Riesz space fractional derivative. In the framework of this generalized fractal comb model, Lévy processes are considered, and exact solutions for the probability distribution functions are obtained in terms of the Fox H-function for a variety of the memory kernels, and the rate of the superdiffusive spreading is studied by calculating the fractional moments. For a special form of the memory kernels, we also observed a competition between long rests and long jumps. Finally, we considered the fractal structure of the fingers controlled by a Weierstrass function, which leads to the power-law kernel in the Fourier space. This is a special case, when the second moment exists for superdiffusion in this competition between long rests and long jumps.
Original languageEnglish
Article number355001
JournalJournal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical
Volume49
Issue number35
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Jul 2016

Keywords

  • anomalous diffusion
  • fractal comb
  • fractal dimension
  • fractional derivatives
  • Lévy processes

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