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Fractional Brownian Motion With A Reflecting Wall, Alexander H. O. Wada, Thomas Vojta

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Fractional Brownian motion, a stochastic process with long-time correlations between its increments, is a prototypical model for anomalous diffusion. We analyze fractional Brownian motion in the presence of a reflecting wall by means of Monte Carlo simulations. Whereas the mean-square displacement of the particle shows the expected anomalous diffusion behavior (x²) ~ t^α, the interplay between the geometric confinement and the long-time memory leads to a highly non-Gaussian probability density function with a power-law singularity at the barrier. In the superdiffusive case α > 1, the particles accumulate at the barrier leading to a divergence of the …