Invading activity fronts stabilize excitable systems against stochastic extinction

Abstract

Stochastic chemical reaction or population dynamics in finite systems often terminates in an absorbing state. Yet in large spatially extended systems, the time to reach species extinction (or fixation) becomes exceedingly long. Tuning control parameters may diminish the survival probability, rendering species coexistence susceptible to stochastic extinction events. In inhomogeneous settings, where a vulnerable subsystem is diffusively coupled to an adjacent stable patch, the former is reanimated through continuous influx from the interfaces, provided the absorbing region sustains spreading activity fronts. We demonstrate this generic elimination of finite-size extinction instabilities via immigration flux in predator-prey, epidemic spreading, and cyclic competition models.