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A stochastic death process with elimination by pairing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2016

M. J. Faddy
Affiliation:
Montana State University
Warren W. Esty*
Affiliation:
Montana State University
*
∗∗Postal address: Department of Mathematical Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA.

Abstract

A stochastic death process in which particles of two types combine and are removed from the system at a rate proportional to the product of their numbers is derived and analyzed. Exact expressions for the probability distribution and moments are given and an approximating diffusion is obtained. Numerical calculations show close agreement between the exact solution and this diffusion even for small numbers of particles, and reveal the relatively low level of stochastic variation.

Type
Short Communications
Copyright
Copyright © Applied Probability Trust 1987 

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Footnotes

Research carried out while on leave from the Department of Statistics, University of Birmingham, P.O. Box 363, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.

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