  We study first-passage time problems for a diffusive particle with stochastic
resetting with a finite rate $r$. The optimal search time is compared
quantitatively with that of an effective equilibrium Langevin process with the
same stationary distribution. It is shown that the intermittent, nonequilibrium
strategy with non-vanishing resetting rate is more efficient than the
equilibrium dynamics. Our results are extended to multiparticle systems where a
team of independent searchers, initially uniformly distributed with a given
density, looks for a single immobile target. Both the average and the typical
survival probability of the target are smaller in the case of nonequilibrium
dynamics.
