Unbounded autocatalytic growth on diffusive substrate: the extinction transition

Abstract

The effect of diffusively correlated spatial fluctuations on the proliferation-extinction transition of autocatalytic agents is investigated numerically. Reactants adaptation to spatio-temporal active regions is shown to lead to proliferation even if the mean field rate equations predict extinction, in agreement with previous theoretical predictions. While in the proliferation phase the system admits a typical time scale that dictates the exponential growth, the extinction times distribution obeys a power law at the parameter region considered.