Confinement-Driven Acceleration of First-Passage Rates

Abstract

We demonstrate that confinement geometry can act as a rectifier in passive diffusion, optimally accelerating first-passage rates beyond free diffusion. Using analytic theory based on the Fick-Jacobs approach and Brownian dynamics simulations, we find nonmonotonic mean first-passage rates driven by entropy. Through the transmission probability, our findings highlight how confinement optimizes transport dynamics in trap-and-escape processes, with implications for molecular translocation and reaction kinetics in soft matter and biological systems.