Two random-walk related problems which have been studied independently in the
past, the expected maximum of a random walker in one dimension and the flux to
a spherical trap of particles undergoing discrete jumps in three dimensions,
are shown to be closely related to each other and are studied using a unified
approach as a solution to a Wiener-Hopf problem. For the flux problem, this
work shows that a constant c = 0.29795219 which appeared in the context of the
boundary extrapolation length, and was previously found only numerically, can
be derived explicitly. The same constant enters in higher-order corrections to
the expected-maximum asymptotics. As a byproduct, we also prove a new universal
result in the context of the flux problem which is an analogue of the Sparre
Andersen theorem proved in the context of the random walker's maximum.Comment: Two figs. Accepted for publication, Journal of Statistical Physic