摘要

Exchange-driven growth is a process in which pairs of clusters interact by exchanging single unit of mass at a time. The rate of exchange is given by an interaction kernel K(j, k) which depends on the masses of the two interacting clusters. In this paper we establish the fundamental mathematical properties of the mean field rate equations of this process for the first time. We find two different classes of behavior depending on whether K(j, k) is symmetric or not. For the non-symmetric case, we prove global existence and uniqueness of solutions for kernels satisfying K(j, k) <= Cjk. This result is optimal in the sense that we show for a large class of initial conditions and kernels satisfying K(j, k) >= Cj(beta) (beta > 1) the solutions cannot exist. On the other hand, for symmetric kernels, we prove global existence of solutions for K(j, k) <= C(j(mu)k(nu) + j(nu)k(mu)) (mu, nu <= 2, mu + nu <= 3), while existence is lost for K(j, k) >= Cj(beta) (beta > 2). In the intermediate regime 3 < mu+nu <= 4, we can only show local existence. We conjecture that the intermediate regime exhibits finite-time gelation in accordance with the heuristic results obtained for particular kernels.

  • 出版日期2018-7