Transient and universal regimes in quantum reaction-transport kinetics

Abstract

Quantum reaction-transport systems consist of coherently propagating particles that irreversibly react upon encounter. Their relaxation is commonly classified as reaction-limited or transport-limited, depending on the relative timescales of reaction and particle transport. We show that this expectation fails in low dimensions by studying the quantum binary annihilation, $A+A \to \emptyset$, where reaction processes acquire singular fluctuation corrections below the upper critical dimension $D_c=2$. Consequently, fluctuations dominate the asymptotic kinetics for $D<2$. In one dimension, they render mean-field relaxation transient and drive the system toward a transport-limited regime with $n\sim t^{-1/2}$, governed by a quantum-Zeno scale even for arbitrarily weak loss. At $D=2$, the kinetics acquires logarithmic corrections, whereas above two dimensions mean-field scaling is asymptotically restored. At and below the upper critical dimension, mean-field behavior can nevertheless persist over parametrically long crossover times before the asymptotic fluctuation-dominated regime emerges. We also show that the same fluctuations generate effective elastic collisions despite the absence of microscopic coherent interactions. In $D>1$, these collisions redistribute momentum populations and are parametrically faster than losses in the transport-limited regime, allowing the system to approach a quasi-stationary thermal state.