Randomly accelerated particle in a box: mean absorption time for partially absorbing and inelastic boundaries

Abstract

Consider a particle which is randomly accelerated by Gaussian white noise on the line segment $0<x<1$ and is absorbed as soon as it reaches $x=0$ or $x=1$. The mean absorption time $T(x,v)$, where $x$ and $v$ denote the initial position and velocity, was calculated exactly by Masoliver and Porr\`a in 1995. We consider a more general boundary condition. On arriving at either boundary, the particle is absorbed with probability $1-p$ and reflected with probability $p$. The reflections are inelastic, with coefficient of restitution $r$. With exact analytical and numerical methods and simulations, we study the mean absorption time as a function of $p$ and $r$.