title: Narrow-escape times for diffusion in microdomains with a particle-surface affinity: mean-field results.
abstract: We analyze the mean time t(app) that a randomly moving particle spends in a bounded domain (sphere) before it escapes through a small window in the domain's boundary. A particle is assumed to diffuse freely in the bulk until it approaches the surface of the domain where it becomes weakly adsorbed, and then wanders diffusively along the boundary for a random time until it desorbs back to the bulk, etc. Using a mean-field approximation, we define t(app) analytically as a function of the bulk and surface diffusion coefficients, the mean time it spends in the bulk between two consecutive arrivals to the surface and the mean time it wanders on the surface within a single round of the surface diffusion.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée (UMR CNRS 7600), Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris, Cedex 5, France. oshanin@lptmc.jussieu.fr
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Oshanin
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tamm
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Vasilyev
mesh_terms: D004058:Diffusion; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D013499:Surface Properties; D013997:Time Factors