Delay-Controlled Reactions

Abstract

When the entities undergoing a chemical reaction are not available simultaneously, the classical rate equation of a reaction or, alternatively for the evolution of a population, should be extended by including non-Markovian memory effects. We consider the two cases of an external feedback, realized by fixed functions and an internal feedback originated in a self-organized manner by the relevant concentration itself. Whereas in the first case the fixed points are not changed, although the dynamical process is altered, the second case offers a complete new behaviour, characterized by the existence of a time persistent solution. Due to the feedback the reaction may lead to a finite concentration in the stationary limit even in case of a single-species pair annihilation $A + A \to 0$ process. We argue that the different cases are similar to a coupling of additive or multiplicative noises in stochastic processes.