Anomalous Diffusion with Absorbing Boundary

Abstract

In a very long Gaussian polymer on time scales shorter that the maximal relaxation time, the mean squared distance travelled by a tagged monomer grows as ~t^{1/2}. We analyze such sub-diffusive behavior in the presence of one or two absorbing boundaries and demonstrate the differences between this process and the sub-diffusion described by the fractional Fokker-Planck equation. In particular, we show that the mean absorption time of diffuser between two absorbing boundaries is finite. Our results restrict the form of the effective dispersion equation that may describe such sub-diffusive processes.