First passage time for superstatistical Fokker-Planck models

Abstract

The first passage time (FPT) problem is studied for superstatistical models assuming that the mesoscopic system dynamics is described by a Fokker-Planck equation. We show that all moments of the random intensive parameter associated to the superstatistical approach can be put in one-to-one correspondence with the moments of the FPT. For systems subjected to an additional uncorrelated external force, the same statistical information is obtained from the dependence of the FPT-moments on the external force. These results provide an alternative technique for checking the validity of superstatistical models. As an example, we characterize the mean FPT for a forced Brownian particle.