Active transport in complex media: relationship between persistence and superdiffusion

MARCELO A. DESPÓSITO; CARLA PALLAVICINI; VALERIA LEVI; LUCIANA BRUNO

PHYSICA A - STATISTICAL AND THEORETICAL PHYSICS

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2011 vol. 390 p. 1026 - 1032

0378-4371

We study the relationship between anomalous diffusion and persistent motion of micronsized particles moving in a viscoelastic environment and subjected to an external noise. In the framework of a generalized Langevin equation, we compare the analytical expressions of the mean square displacement and the mean cosine of the turning angle. Both magnitudes can be easily computed from the particles trajectories, and allow us to investigate the different anomalous regimes typically obtained, for instance, in single particle tracking experiments within living cells. Finally, we analyze the directional changes occurring during the motion of pigment organelles driven by molecular motors in Xenopus laevis melanocytes, as an example of application of our model.