English

Exactly Solvable Model of Monomer-Monomer Reactions on a Two-Dimensional Random Catalytic Substrate

Materials Science 2009-11-10 v1 Statistical Mechanics

Abstract

We present an \textit{exactly solvable} model of a monomer-monomer A+BA + B \to \emptyset reaction on a 2D inhomogeneous, catalytic substrate and study the equilibrium properties of the two-species adsorbate. The substrate contains randomly placed catalytic bonds of mean density qq which connect neighboring adsorption sites. The interacting AA and BB (monomer) species undergo continuous exchanges with corresponding adjacent gaseous reservoirs. A reaction A+BA + B \to \emptyset takes place instantaneously if AA and BB particles occupy adsorption sites connected by a catalytic bond. We find that for the case of \textit{annealed} disorder in the placement of the catalytic bonds the reaction model under study can be mapped onto the general spin S=1S = 1 (GS1) model. Here we concentrate on a particular case in which the model reduces to an exactly solvable Blume-Emery-Griffiths (BEG) model (T. Horiguchi, Phys. Lett. A {\bf 113}, 425 (1986); F.Y. Wu, Phys. Lett. A, {\bf 116}, 245 (1986)) and derive an exact expression for the disorder-averaged equilibrium pressure of the two-species adsorbate. We show that at equal partial vapor pressures of the AA and BB species this system exhibits a second-order phase transition which reflects a spontaneous symmetry breaking with large fluctuations and progressive coverage of the entire substrate by either one of the species.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0311618,
  title  = {Exactly Solvable Model of Monomer-Monomer Reactions on a Two-Dimensional Random Catalytic Substrate},
  author = {G. Oshanin and M. N. Popescu and S. Dietrich},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0311618},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett