Corrections to the Law of Mass Action and Properties of the Asymptotic t=∞t = \infty State for Reversible Diffusion-Limited Reactions

On example of diffusion-limited reversible $A+A \rightleftharpoons B$ reactions we re-examine two fundamental concepts of classical chemical kinetics - the notion of "Chemical Equilibrium" and the "Law of Mass Action". We consider a general model with distance-dependent reaction rates, such that any pair of $A$ particles, performing standard random walks on sites of a $d$-dimensional lattice and being at a distance $\mu$ apart of each other at time moment $t$, may associate forming a $B$ particle at the rate $k_+(\mu)$. In turn, any randomly moving $B$ particle may spontaneously dissociate at the rate $k_-(\lambda)$ into a geminate pair of $A$s "born" at a distance $\lambda$ apart of each other. Within a formally exact approach based on Gardiner's Poisson representation method we show that the asymptotic $t = \infty$ state attained by such diffusion-limited reactions is generally \textit{not a true thermodynamic equilibrium}, but rather a non-equilibrium steady-state, and that the Law of Mass Action is invalid. The classical concepts hold \text{only} in case when the ratio $k_+(\mu)/k_-(\mu)$ does not depend on $\mu$ for any $\mu$.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figure

About Fokker-Planck equation with measurable coefficients and applications to the fast diffusion equation

The object of this paper is the uniqueness for a $d$-dimensional Fokker-Planck type equation with non-homogeneous (possibly degenerated) measurable not necessarily bounded coefficients. We provide an application to the probabilistic representation of the so called Barenblatt solution of the fast diffusion equation which is the partial differential equation $\partial_t u = \partial^2_{xx} u^m$ with $m\in(0,1)$. Together with the mentioned Fokker-Planck equation, we make use of small time density estimates uniformly with respect to the initial conditio

Gap Fluctuations in Inhomogeneous Superconductors

Spatial fluctuations of the effective pairing interaction between electrons in a superconductor induce variations of the order parameter which in turn lead to significant changes in the density of states. In addition to an overall reduction of the quasi-particle energy gap, theory suggests that mesoscopic fluctuations of the impurity potential induce localised tail states below the mean-field gap edge. Using a field theoretic approach, we elucidate the nature of the states in the `sub-gap' region. Specifically, we show that these states are associated with replica symmetry broken instanton solutions of the mean-field equations.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures included. To be published in PRB (Sept. 2001

Stability of the Travelling Front of a Decaying Brane

The dynamics (in light-cone time) of the tachyon on an unstable brane in the background of a dilaton linear along a null coordinate is a non-local reaction-diffusion type equation, which admits a travelling front solution. We analyze the (in-)stability of this solution using linearized perturbation theory. We find that the front solution obtained in singular perturbation method is stable. However, these inhomogenous solutions (unlike the homogenous solution) also have Lyapunov exponents corresponding to unstable modes around the (meta-)stable vacuum.Comment: 1+15 pages, 4 figure

Quantum state-dependent diffusion and multiplicative noise: a microscopic approach

The state-dependent diffusion, which concerns the Brownian motion of a particle in inhomogeneous media has been described phenomenologically in a number of ways. Based on a system-reservoir nonlinear coupling model we present a microscopic approach to quantum state-dependent diffusion and multiplicative noise in terms of a quantum Markovian Langevin description and an associated Fokker-Planck equation in position space in the overdamped limit. We examine the thermodynamic consistency and explore the possibility of observing a quantum current, a generic quantum effect, as a consequence of this state-dependent diffusion similar to one proposed by B\"{u}ttiker [Z. Phys. B {\bf 68}, 161 (1987)] in a classical context several years ago.Comment: To be published in Journal of Statistical Physics 28 pages, 3 figure