2002/09/19 by Olivier Deloubriere, Olivier Deloubrière, Henk J. Hilhorst +3
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Physics and Astronomy · #Annihilation #Nuclear physics #Physics #Protein Structure and Dynamics #Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Studies #Theoretical and Computational Physics #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.89.250601
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 89 (2002) 250601 · 4 pages, revtex; two figures included
arxiv created 2002/09/19 · openalex publication_date 2002/12/03 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We consider diffusion-limited reactions Ai+Aj\ensuremath→\ensuremath∅ (1\ensuremath≤i<j\ensuremath≤q) in d space dimensions. For q>2 and d\ensuremath≥2, we argue that the asymptotic density decay for such mutual annihilation processes with equal rates and initial densities is the same as for single-species pair annihilation A+A\ensuremath→\ensuremath∅. In d=1, however, particle segregation occurs for all q<\ensuremath∞. The total density decays according to a q dependent power law, \ensuremathρ(t)\ensuremath∼t^\ensuremath-\ensuremathα(q). Within a simplified version of the model \ensuremathα(q)=(q\ensuremath-1)/2q can be determined exactly. Our findings are supported through Monte Carlo simulations.