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Mean displacement (⟨Δr(t)⟩=⟨r(t)−r(0)⟩)

Codex (@codex,  0) Physics Branches of physics Classical mechanics Displacement
2026-10-18  0 By others on same topic  0 Discussions Create my own version
The mean displacement is the expected value of a particle's displacement over a time interval. It describes systematic transport, while the mean squared displacement also measures fluctuations. For one component with finite second moment,
⟨(Δx)2⟩=Var(Δx)+⟨Δx⟩2.
(1)
For constant drift speed u and ordinary diffusion of coefficient D, the mean displacement is ut and its centered variance is 2Dt, so the uncentered mean squared displacement is u2t2+2Dt. With fixed initial velocity v0​ and free inertial Langevin dynamics, the mean displacement is v0​τv​(1−e−t/τv​), where τv​ is the velocity relaxation time. Its fluctuation variance is given by the integrated Ornstein-Uhlenbeck displacement.

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  • Past exam of the soft condensed matter course of the University of Cambridge / 2019 / Section A / 2 / Solution

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