Mean square displacement analysis of single-particle trajectories with localization error: Brownian motion in an isotropic medium

Abstract

We examine the capability of mean square displacement (MSD) analysis to extract reliable values of the diffusion coefficient D of a single particle undergoing Brownian motion in an isotropic medium in the presence of localization uncertainty. The theoretical results, supported by simulations, show that a simple unweighted least-squares fit of the MSD curve can provide the best estimate of D provided an optimal number of MSD points are used for the fit. We discuss the practical implications of these results for data analysis in single-particle tracking experiments.