Positing the problem of stationary distributions of active particles as third-order differential equation

Abstract: In this work, we obtain third order linear differential equation for stationary distributions of run-and-tumble particles in two-dimensions in a harmonic trap. The equation represents the condition $j = 0$ where $j$ is a flux and is obtained from inference, using different known results in the limiting conditions. Since the analogous equation for passive Brownian particles is first order, a second and third order term must be a feature of active motion. In addition to formulating the problem as third order equation, we obtain solutions in the form of convolution of two distributions, the Gaussian distribution due to thermal fluctuations, and the beta distribution due to active motion at zero temperature. The convolution form of the solution indicates that the two random processes are independent and the total distribution is the sum of those two processes.