Diffusion-Annihilation in the Presence of a Driving Field

We study the effect of an external driving force on a simple stochastic reaction-diffusion system in one dimension. In our model each lattice site may be occupied by at most one particle. These particles hop with rates $(1\pm\eta)/2$ to the right and left nearest neighbouring site resp. if this site is vacant and annihilate with rate 1 if it is occupied. We show that density fluctuations (i.e. the $m^{th}$ moments $\langle N^m \rangle$ of the density distribution at time $t$) do not depend on the spatial anisotropy $\eta$ induced by the driving field, irrespective of the initial condition. Furthermore we show that if one takes certain translationally invariant averages over initial states (e.g. random initial conditions) even local fluctuations do not depend on $\eta$. In the scaling regime $t \sim L^2$ the effect of the driving can be completely absorbed in a Galilei transformation (for any initial condition). We compute the probability of finding a system of $L$ sites in its stationary state at time $t$ if it was fully occupied at time $t_0 = 0$.Comment: 17 pages, latex, no figure

The statistics of diffusive flux

We calculate the explicit probability distribution function for the flux between sites in a simple discrete time diffusive system composed of independent random walkers. We highlight some of the features of the distribution and we discuss its relation to the local instantaneous entropy production in the system. Our results are applicable both to equilibrium and non-equilibrium steady states as well as for certain time dependent situations.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figur

Reaction-controlled diffusion

The dynamics of a coupled two-component nonequilibrium system is examined by means of continuum field theory representing the corresponding master equation. Particles of species A may perform hopping processes only when particles of different type B are present in their environment. Species B is subject to diffusion-limited reactions. If the density of B particles attains a finite asymptotic value (active state), the A species displays normal diffusion. On the other hand, if the B density decays algebraically ~t^{-a} at long times (inactive state), the effective attractive A-B interaction is weakened. The combination of B decay and activated A hopping processes gives rise to anomalous diffusion, with mean-square displacement ~ t^{1-a} for a < 1. Such algebraic subdiffusive behavior ensues for n-th order B annihilation reactions (n B -> 0) with n >=3, and n = 2 for d < 2. The mean-square displacement of the A particles grows only logarithmically with time in the case of B pair annihilation (n = 2) and d >= 2 dimensions. For radioactive B decay (n = 1), the A particles remain localized. If the A particles may hop spontaneously as well, or if additional random forces are present, the A-B coupling becomes irrelevant, and conventional diffusion is recovered in the long-time limit.Comment: 7 pages, revtex, no figures; latest revised versio

Exact solution of a one-parameter family of asymmetric exclusion processes

We define a family of asymmetric processes for particles on a one-dimensional lattice, depending on a continuous parameter $\lambda \in [0,1]$, interpolating between the completely asymmetric processes [1] (for $\lambda =1$) and the n=1 drop-push models [2] (for $\lambda =0$). For arbitrary \la, the model describes an exclusion process, in which a particle pushes its right neighbouring particles to the right, with rates depending on the number of these particles. Using the Bethe ansatz, we obtain the exact solution of the master equation .Comment: 14 pages, LaTe

Point force manipulation and activated dynamics of polymers adsorbed on structured substrates

We study the activated motion of adsorbed polymers which are driven over a structured substrate by a localized point force.Our theory applies to experiments with single polymers using, for example, tips of scanning force microscopes to drag the polymer.We consider both flexible and semiflexible polymers,and the lateral surface structure is represented by double-well or periodic potentials. The dynamics is governed by kink-like excitations for which we calculate shapes, energies, and critical point forces. Thermally activated motion proceeds by the nucleation of a kink-antikink pair at the point where the force is applied and subsequent diffusive separation of kink and antikink. In the stationary state of the driven polymer, the collective kink dynamics can be described by an one-dimensional symmetric simple exclusion process.Comment: 7 pages, 2 Figure

Microscopic structure of travelling wave solutions in a class of stochastic interacting particle systems

We obtain exact travelling wave solutions for three families of stochastic one-dimensional nonequilibrium lattice models with open boundaries. These solutions describe the diffusive motion and microscopic structure of (i) of shocks in the partially asymmetric exclusion process with open boundaries, (ii) of a lattice Fisher wave in a reaction-diffusion system, and (iii) of a domain wall in non-equilibrium Glauber-Kawasaki dynamics with magnetization current. For each of these systems we define a microscopic shock position and calculate the exact hopping rates of the travelling wave in terms of the transition rates of the microscopic model. In the steady state a reversal of the bias of the travelling wave marks a first-order non-equilibrium phase transition, analogous to the Zel'dovich theory of kinetics of first-order transitions. The stationary distributions of the exclusion process with $n$ shocks can be described in terms of $n$-dimensional representations of matrix product states.Comment: 27 page

Solution of a class of one-dimensional reaction-diffusion models in disordered media

We study a one-dimensional class of reaction-diffusion models on a $10-$parameters manifold. The equations of motion of the correlation functions close on this manifold. We compute exactly the long-time behaviour of the density and correlation functions for {\it quenched} disordered systems. The {\it quenched} disorder consists of disconnected domains of reaction. We first consider the case where the disorder comprizes a superposition, with different probabilistic weights, of finite segments, with {\it periodic boundary conditions}. We then pass to the case of finite segments with {\it open boundary conditions}: we solve the ordered dynamics on a open lattice with help of the Dynamical Matrix Ansatz (DMA) and investigate further its disordered version.Comment: 11 pages, no figures. To appear in Phys.Rev.

The duality relation between Glauber dynamics and the diffusion-annihilation model as a similarity transformation

In this paper we address the relationship between zero temperature Glauber dynamics and the diffusion-annihilation problem in the free fermion case. We show that the well-known duality transformation between the two problems can be formulated as a similarity transformation if one uses appropriate (toroidal) boundary conditions. This allow us to establish and clarify the precise nature of the relationship between the two models. In this way we obtain a one-to-one correspondence between observables and initial states in the two problems. A random initial state in Glauber dynamics is related to a short range correlated state in the annihilation problem. In particular the long-time behaviour of the density in this state is seen to depend on the initial conditions. Hence, we show that the presence of correlations in the initial state determine the dependence of the long time behaviour of the density on the initial conditions, even if such correlations are short-ranged. We also apply a field-theoretical method to the calculation of multi-time correlation functions in this initial state.Comment: 15 pages, Latex file, no figures. To be published in J. Phys. A. Minor changes were made to the previous version to conform with the referee's Repor

EQUIVALENCES BETWEEN STOCHASTIC SYSTEMS

Time-dependent correlation functions of (unstable) particles undergoing biased or unbiased diffusion, coagulation and annihilation are calculated. This is achieved by similarity transformations between different stochastic models and between stochastic and soluble {\em non-stochastic} models. The results agree with experiments on one-dimensional annihilation-coagulation processes.Comment: 15 pages, Latex. Some corrections made and an appendix adde

Time-dependent correlation functions in a one-dimensional asymmetric exclusion process

We study a one-dimensional anisotropic exclusion process describing particles injected at the origin, moving to the right on a chain of $L$ sites and being removed at the (right) boundary. We construct the steady state and compute the density profile, exact expressions for all equal-time n-point density correlation functions and the time-dependent two-point function in the steady state as functions of the injection and absorption rates. We determine the phase diagram of the model and compare our results with predictions from dynamical scaling and discuss some conjectures for other exclusion models.Comment: LATEX-file, 32 pages, Weizmann preprint WIS/93/01/Jan-P