Normal-to-anomalous diffusion transition in disordered correlated potentials: from the central limit theorem to stable laws

Abstract

We study the diffusion of an ensemble of overdamped particles sliding over a tilted random poten- tial (produced by the interaction of a particle with a random polymer) with long-range correlations. We found that the diffusion properties of such a system are closely related to the correlation function of the corresponding potential. We model the substrate as a symbolic trajectory of a shift space which enables us to obtain a general formula for the diffusion coefficient when normal diffusion occurs. The total time that the particle takes to travel through n monomers can be seen as an ergodic sum to which we can apply the central limit theorem. The latter can be implemented if the correlations decay fast enough in order for the central limit theorem to be valid. On the other hand, we presume that when the central limit theorem breaks down the system give rise to anomalous diffusion. We give two examples exhibiting a transition from normal to anomalous diffusion due to this mechanism. We also give analytical expressions for the diffusion exponents in both cases by assuming convergence to a stable law. Finally we test our predictions by means of numerical simulations.