Apparent subdiffusion inherent to single particle tracking

Subdiffusion and its causes in both in vivo and in vitro lipid membranes have become the focus of recent research. We report apparent subdiffusion, observed via single particle tracking (SPT), in a homogeneous system that only allows normal diffusion (a DMPC monolayer in the fluid state). The apparent subdiffusion arises from slight errors in finding the actual particle position due to noise inherent in all experimental SPT systems. A model is presented that corrects this artifact, and predicts the time scales after which the effect becomes negligible. The techniques and results presented in this paper should be of use in all SPT experiments studying normal and anomalous diffusion.