Publications [#318053] of David N. Beratan

Journal Articles

1. Polizzi, NF; Therien, MJ; Beratan, DN, Mean First-Passage Times in Biology., Israel journal of chemistry, vol. 56 no. 9-10 (November, 2016), pp. 816-824 [doi]
   (last updated on 2026/01/14)

   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.