Field theory of branching and annihilating random walks (Q1284747)

A class of diffusion-limited reaction processes is considered, where one deals with a competition of annihilation, branching and pair production processes for identical particles that perform a random walk with a fixed diffusion constant. Starting from the master equation, a systematic field-theoretic representation (Fock space formalism, appropriate for quantum many-body systems) is derived. Non-equilibrium critical points and exponents are evaluated by means of the renormalization group methods, to yield new types of critical behaviour characterized by new universality classes. A comparison with numerical simulations of other authors suggests new directions for future theoretical and numerical work in this area.