Partial stochastic resetting with refractory periods

Abstract The effect of refractory periods in partial resetting processes is studied. Under Poissonian partial resets, a state variable jumps to a value closer to the origin by a fixed fraction at constant rate, <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>x</mml:mi> <mml:mo accent="false" stretchy="false">→</mml:mo> <mml:mi>a</mml:mi> <mml:mi>x</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> . Following each reset, a stationary refractory period of arbitrary duration takes place. We derive an exact closed-form expression for the propagator in Fourier–Laplace space, which shows rich dynamical features such as connections not only to other resetting schemes but also to intermittent motion. For diffusive processes, we use the propagator to derive exact expressions for time dependent moments of x at all orders. At late times the system reaches a non-equilibrium steady state which takes the form of a mixture distribution that splits the system into two subpopulations; trajectories that at any given time in the stationary regime find themselves in the freely evolving phase, and those that are in the refractory phase. In contrast to conventional resetting, partial resets give rise to non-trivial steady states even for the refractory subpopulation. Moments and cumulants associated with the steady state density are studied, and we show that a universal optimum for the kurtosis can be found as a function of mean refractory time, determined solely by the strength of the resetting and the mean inter-reset time. The presented results could be of relevance to growth-collapse processes with periods of inactivity following a collapse.