A branching random walk model for diffusion-reaction-convection (Q677495)

The purpose of this paper is to show a method of constructing a discrete stochastic model for the dynamics of large populations whose individual entities are diffusing, interacting, and drifting in a bounded environment. The main results are the existence of a discrete-time Markov process whose state space is a set of location maps assigning individual entities to their positions on an integer lattice of finite dimension \(d\), and some constructive convergence estimates which imply uniform convergence of ensemble average population densities and \(L_1\) convergence of the random densities (when population scales increase sufficiently fast) to the solution of a related system of diffusion-reaction-convection partial differential equations: \[ \partial u_k(x)/\partial t=\nabla^2 D_k(u(x))u_k(x)+ \nabla\cdot u_k(x)v(u(x),x)+ F_k(u(x),x). \] Further results suggest that by controlling the rate of population increase we may obtain a continuous theory of stochastic partial differential equations (based on Brownian motion) which approximates the model via a central limit process.