| Abstract: | In this paper we use probabilistic arguments to derive and discuss the spatial distribution of molecules which are undergoing electrophoresis or centrifugation while at the same time they are switching back and forth between two configurational states. An exact solution is obtained for arbitrary values of the diffusion coefficients of the two isomerizing states. The traditional analytic method of solving this problem, namely, by use of “master equations,” is not completely satisfactory because one can find only the Fourier transform of the solution rather than the solution itself. Our treatment yields the answer one would get if it were feasible to perform the inversion of the Fourier transform. |
