Correlated continuous-time random walk in a velocity field: Anomalous bifractional crossover.

Abstract

The diffusion of space-time correlated continuous-time random walk moving in the velocity field, which includes the fluid flowing freely and the fluid flowing through porous media, is investigated in this paper. Results reveal that it presents anomalous diffusion merely caused by space-time correlation in the freely flowing fluid, and the bias from the velocity field only supplies a standard advection, which is verified by the corresponding generalized diffusion equation which includes a standard advection term. However, the diffusion in the fluid flowing through porous media, i.e., the mean squared displacement, can display a bifractional form of which one originates from space-time correlation and the other one originates from dispersive bias caused by sticking of the porous media. The fractional advection term emerging in the corresponding generalized diffusion equation confirms the results. Moreover, the coexistence of correlation and dispersive bias result in crossover phenomenon in-between the diffusive process at an intermediate timescale, but just as the definition of diffusion, the one owning the largest diffusion exponent always prevails at large timescales. However, since the two fractional diffusions originate from a different mechanism, even if it owns the smaller diffusion exponent, that one can dominate the diffusion if it fluctuates much stronger than the other one, which no longer obeys the previous conclusion.