Mean First‐Passage Times in Biology. Issue 9 (5th August 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Polizzi, Nicholas F.; Therien, Michael J.; Beratan, David N.
• Is Part Of: Israel journal of chemistry. Volume 56:Issue 9/10(2016)
• Page Start: 816
• Page End: 824
• Publication Date: 2016-08-05
• Subjects: electron transfer -- Markov chains -- mean first-passage time -- protein folding; Chemistry -- Periodicals; 540.5
• DOI: 10.1002/ijch.201600040
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0021-2148

Abstract

Abstract: Many biochemical processes, such as charge hopping or protein folding, can be described by an average timescale to reach a final state, starting from an initial state. Here, we provide a pedagogical treatment of the mean first‐passage time (MFPT) of a physical process, which depends on the number of intervening states between the initial state and the target state. Our aim in this tutorial review is to provide a clear development of the mean first‐passage time formalism and to show some of its practical utility. The MFPT treatment can provide a useful link between microscopic rates and the average timescales often probed by experiment. Abstract :