The description of subdiffusive transport in complex media by fractional equations with a constant anomalous exponent is not robust where the stationary distribution is concerned. The Gibbs-Boltzmann distribution is radically changed by even small spatial perturbations to the anomalous exponent [S. Fedotov and S. Falconer, Phys. Rev. E 85, 031132 (2012)]. To rectify this problem we propose the inclusion of the random death process in the random walk scheme, which is quite natural for biological applications including morphogen gradient formation. From this, we arrive at the modified fractional master equation and analyze its asymptotic behavior, both analytically and by Monte Carlo simulation. We show that this equation is structurally stable against spatial variations of the anomalous exponent. We find that the stationary flux of the particles has a Markovian form with rate functions depending on the anomalous rate functions, the death rate, and the anomalous exponent. Additionally, in the continuous limit we arrive at an advection-diffusion equation where advection and diffusion coefficients depend on both the death rate and anomalous exponent.

• Received 6 November 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.87.052139