Destruction of ultra-slow diffusion in a three dimensional cylindrical comb structure

Abstract

We present a rigorous result on ultra-slow diffusion by solving a Fokker-Planck equation, which describes anomalous transport in a three dimensional (3D) comb. This 3D cylindrical comb consists of a cylinder of discs threaten on a backbone. It is shown that the ultra-slow contaminant spreading along the backbone is described by the mean squared displacement (MSD) of the order of $\ln (t)$. This phenomenon takes place only for normal two dimensional diffusion inside the infinite secondary branches (discs). When the secondary branches have finite boundaries, the ultra-slow motion is a transient process and the asymptotic behavior is normal diffusion. In another example, when anomalous diffusion takes place in the secondary branches, a destruction of ultra-slow (logarithmic) diffusion takes place as well. As the result, one observes "enhanced" subdiffusion with the MSD $\sim t^{1-\alpha}\ln t$, where $0<\alpha<1$.