Paper 3, Section I, A

Mathematical Biology
Part II, 2009

Consider an organism moving on a one-dimensional lattice of spacing aa, taking steps either to the right or the left at regular time intervals τ\tau. In this random walk there is a slight bias to the right, that is the probabilities of moving to the right and left, α\alpha and β\beta, are such that αβ=ϵ\alpha-\beta=\epsilon, where 0<ϵ10<\epsilon \ll 1. Write down the appropriate master equation for this process. Show by taking the continuum limit in space and time that p(x,t)p(x, t), the probability that an organism initially at x=0x=0 is at xx after time tt, obeys

pt+Vpx=D2px2\frac{\partial p}{\partial t}+V \frac{\partial p}{\partial x}=D \frac{\partial^{2} p}{\partial x^{2}}

Express the constants VV and DD in terms of a,τ,αa, \tau, \alpha and β\beta.