Uniqueness of weakly reversible and deficiency zero realizations of dynamical systems (Q2066477)

The authors address the relationship between chemical reaction networks obeying mass-action kinetics and the topological dynamics of corresponding systems of differential equations. A reaction network together with rate constants gives rise to a specific differential equation. The question is in how far a differential equation determines a relevant reaction network. In general, the differential equation does not select a particular network. The main result tells us that this is nevertheless the case for the simplest and most important class of networks, consisting of those that are weakly reversible and deficiency zero (Theorem 3.12). If different networks show the same dynamics then at most one belongs to this special class. The paper presents a thorough introduction to the pertinent theory together with a description of its development, equipped with numerous references to the literature.