Superdiffusion of Aerosols Emitted After Sneezing -- Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics Approach

TL;DR

This paper models aerosol superdiffusion after sneezing using non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, revealing that aerosols can travel much farther than previously thought, impacting infection prevention strategies.

Contribution

It introduces a stochastic model based on the Langevin equation to analyze aerosol superdiffusion and derives a new estimated safe distance to prevent aerosol infections.

Findings

Superdiffusion occurs immediately after sneezing.

Estimated safe distance for infection prevention is about 42 meters.

Aerosol spread can reach farther than traditional models suggest.

Abstract

We study a stochastic behavior of aerosols by the non-equilibrium statistical mechanics approach using the analytical approach of the Langevin equation. We firstly show that superdiffusion can possibly occur right after the emission, which may be attributed to the physical mechanism of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also provide clear evidence of the least required distance to prevent infections occurred by aerosols. In particular, the required distance to prevent aerosol infections is derived to be about 42 m when we assume Cauchy distribution as an initial velocity distribution. This fact implies that due to superdiffusion the aerosol infection can occur even far away from a long distance as compared to the previous considerations.