  The first passage time (FPT) for random walks is a key indicator of how fast
information diffuses in a given system. Despite the role of FPT as a
fundamental feature in transport phenomena, its behavior, particularly in
heterogeneous networks, is not yet fully understood. Here, we study, both
analytically and numerically, the scaling behavior of the FPT distribution to a
given target node, averaged over all starting nodes. We find that random walks
arrive quickly at a local hub, and therefore, the FPT distribution shows a
crossover with respect to time from fast decay behavior (induced from the
attractive effect to the hub) to slow decay behavior (caused by the exploring
of the entire system). Moreover, the mean FPT is independent of the degree of
the target node in the case of compact exploration. These theoretical results
justify the necessity of using a random jump protocol (empirically used in
search engines) and provide guidelines for designing an effective network to
make information quickly accessible.
