Nonequilibrium phase transitions in models of aggregation, adsorption, and dissociation

We study nonequilibrium phase transitions in a mass-aggregation model which allows for diffusion, aggregation on contact, dissociation, adsorption, and desorption of unit masses. We analyze two limits explicitly. In the first case mass is locally conserved, whereas in the second case local conservation is violated. In both cases the system undergoes a dynamical phase transition in all dimensions. In the first case, the steady state mass distribution decays exponentially for large mass in one phase, and develops an infinite aggregate in addition to a power-law mass decay in the other phase. In the second case, the transition is similar except that the infinite aggregate is missing. [S0031-9007(98)07462-6].