A NONEQUILIBRIUM TRICRITICAL POINT IN THE MONOMER DIMER CATALYSIS MODEL

The authors generalize the monomer-dimer model of heterogeneous catalysis, introduced by Ziff et al. (1986) to allow for variable reaction and adsorption rates. Numerical simulations indicate that a steady state exists for a narrowing range of relative deposition rate of dimers to monomers as the reaction rate decreases. This steady-state regime disappears at a finite value of the reaction probability. A mean-field analysis suggests, however, that the steady-state regime extends to zero reaction probability.