Branching exponential flights: travelled lengths and collision statistics

作者:Zoia Andrea*; Dumonteil Eric; Mazzolo Alain; Mohamed Sameh
来源:Journal of Physics A-Mathematical and Theoretical, 2012, 45(42): 425002.
DOI:10.1088/1751-8113/45/42/425002

摘要

The evolution of several physical and biological systems, ranging from neutron transport in multiplying media to epidemics or population dynamics, can be described in terms of branching exponential flights, a stochastic process which couples a Galton-Watson birth-death mechanism with random spatial displacements. Within this context, one is often called to assess the length l(V) that the process travels in a given region V of the phase space, or the number of visits n(V) to this same region. In this paper, we address this issue by resorting to the Feynman-Kac formalism, which allows characterizing the full distribution of l(V) and n(V) and in particular deriving explicit moment formulas. Some other significant physical observables associated to l(V) and n(V), such as the survival probability, are discussed as well, and results are illustrated by revisiting the classical example of the rod model in nuclear reactor physics.

  • 出版日期2012-10-26
  • 单位中国地震局