Eur. Phys. J. B (2017) 90: 252
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2017-80416-9

Regular Article

Continuous Time Random Walk (CTRW) put to work^★

Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel

^a e-mail: harvey.scher@weizmann.ac.il

Received: 11 July 2017
Published online: 18 December 2017

Abstract

A personal history of the first applications of CTRW to the physics of transport and diffusion in disordered media is presented. The sequence of steps leading to the introduction of novel ψ(t), the probability density of particle-transfer times, without moments is briefly outlined. The key concept that emerged from those early applications is anomalous or non-Fickian transport. The latter involved spatial moments of the particle propagator with completely different time behavior, e.g., the mean <l> ∝ t^β, 0 < β < 1 and likewise σ the rms spreading, i.e., <l>∕σ = constant. With these results many puzzling experimental data were explained. The data ranged from electronic dynamics of amorphous films to chemical migration and interaction in the subsurface of the Earth. These were not anticipated results but a consequence of the CTRW with these special ψ(t).