Infinite densities for Lévy walks

Abstract

Motion of particles in many systems exhibits a mixture between periods of random diffusive like events and ballistic like motion. In many cases, such systems exhibit strong anomalous diffusion, where low order moments $< |x(t)|^q >$ with $q$ below a critical value $q_c$ exhibit diffusive scaling while for $q>q_c$ a ballistic scaling emerges. The mixed dynamics constitutes a theoretical challenge since it does not fall into a unique category of motion, e.g., the known diffusion equations and central limit theorems fail to describe both aspects. In this paper we resolve this problem by resorting to the concept of infinite density. Using the widely applicable Lévy walk model, we find a general expression for the corresponding non-normalized density which is fully determined by the particles velocity distribution, the anomalous diffusion exponent $α$ and the diffusion coefficient $K_α$. We explain how infinite densities play a central role in the description of dynamics of a large class of physical processes and discuss how they can be evaluated from experimental or numerical data.