Dynamical transition in the temporal relaxation of stochastic processes under resetting

• Published in: Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics, 2015-05, Vol.91 (5), p.052131-052131, Article 052131
• Main Authors: Majumdar, Satya N, Sabhapandit, Sanjib, Schehr, Grégory
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Physics
• ISSN: 1539-3755; 1550-2376
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.91.052131

A stochastic process, when subject to resetting to its initial condition at a constant rate, generically reaches a nonequilibrium steady state. We study analytically how the steady state is approached in time and find an unusual relaxation mechanism in these systems. We show that as time progresses an inner core region around the resetting point reaches the steady state, while the region outside the core is still transient. The boundaries of the core region grow with time as power laws at late times with new exponents. Alternatively, at a fixed spatial point, the system undergoes a dynamical transition from the transient to the steady state at a characteristic space-dependent timescale t(*)(x). We calculate analytically in several examples the large deviation function associated with this spatiotemporal fluctuation and show that, generically, it has a second-order discontinuity at a pair of critical points characterizing the edges of the inner core. These singularities act as separatrices between typical and atypical trajectories. Our results are verified in the numerical simulations of several models, such as simple diffusion and fluctuating one-dimensional interfaces.