Source-only realizations, weakly reversible deficiency one networks and dynamical equivalence

Abstract

Reaction networks can display a wide array of dynamics. However, it is possible for different reaction networks to display the same dynamics. This phenomenon is called dynamical equivalence and makes network identification a hard problem to solve. We show that to find a strongly endotactic, endotactic, consistent, or conservative realization that is dynamically equivalent to the mass-action system generated by a given network, it suffices to consider only the source vertices of the given network. In addition, we show that weakly reversible deficiency one realizations are not unique. We also present a characterization of the dynamical relationships that exist between several types of weakly reversible deficiency one networks.