Non-equilibrium dynamics of drift-diffusion process under threshold resetting

Abstract

We study the emergence of non-equilibrium steady states (NESS) in stochastic processes under threshold resetting, an event-driven protocol in which the system resets to its initial configuration upon crossing a prescribed spatial boundary (threshold). In contrast to externally driven resetting, whose steady-state properties are well understood, the behavior under threshold resetting remains largely unexplored. We derive general conditions for the existence of a NESS and show that, whenever it exists, the steady state at a given position $x$ can be expressed as the ratio of two fundamental quantities: the mean local time (MLT) at $x$ and the mean first-passage time (MFPT) to hit the threshold. In particular, for noisy systems, a finite MFPT guarantees the existence of a NESS. As an illustrative example, we analyze a drift-diffusion process in one dimension and uncover rich intermediate-time dynamics, including anomalous relaxation in the spatial distribution, damped oscillations in the moments and in the mean-squared displacement (MSD), governed by system parameters. Our findings provide a general understanding of the emergence of non-equilibrium steady states and relaxation dynamics under threshold resetting, revealing how induced events shape the spatial and temporal properties of a broad class of stochastic processes.