title: Trapping of diffusive particles by rough absorbing surfaces: boundary smoothing approach.
abstract: We present analytical results for the first-passage statistics of Brownian particles near a comblike absorbing boundary. Our approach is based on the method of boundary homogenization (or boundary smoothing) when an equivalent flat boundary is introduced to maintain the same diffusion flux as the original rough boundary. By using the conformal invariance of the Laplace equation we derive an analytic expression for the position of an equivalent boundary in terms of its spatial period and amplitude. The main analytical results being initially obtained for the steady state system provide important insights into the statistical characteristics of diffusive transport near rough boundaries (high order moments of the trapping time statistics).
authors.affiliation: Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Fishermans Bend, Vic 3207, Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Skvortsov
authors.affiliation: Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Fishermans Bend, Vic 3207, Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Walker
mesh_terms: D065966:Absorption, Physicochemical; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004058:Diffusion; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009010:Monte Carlo Method