Figure 4

First-passage times and the ratio R = 〈τ(x ₀ → 0)〉)/(〈τ(x ₀ → x ₁)〉. Light blue × marks the first-passage time experimentally determined for each trajectory. The intersection of thick blue lines depicts the mean first-passage times 〈τ(x ₀ → 0)〉 (x-axis) and 〈τ(x ₀ → x ₁)〉 (y-axis) and the lengths of blue lines denote standard errors of the both means, i.e. \({[\frac{1}{N(N-1)}\sum {({\tau }_{i}-\langle \tau \rangle)}^{2}]}^{1/2}\). Full red line passing through the blue cross and the dotted black line depict the measured ratio R = 0.32 and theoretically predicted value of R = 1/3, respectively. Comparison of experimental data and the computer simulation is shown by background contours revealing 2D histogram constructed using the both first-passage times (maximum of histogram normalized to 1). Considered trajectories start at x ₀ = 1.2 μm and end in 0 or x ₁ = −2.1 μm, see Fig. 1. Side panels show the first-passage time probability density function (blue curves) applying the kernel smoothing function on the experimental data and the probability density function calculated from the simulated data (dashed curves).