DISCRETE MODELS FOR CHEMICALLY REACTING SYSTEMS

Nonequilibrium spatially distributed chemically reacting systems are usually described in terms of reaction-diffusion equations. In this article, a hierarchy of discrete models is studied that show similar spatio-temporal structure and can be used to explore the complex phenomena occurring in these systems. We consider cellular automaton models where space, time and chemical concentrations are discrete and the dynamics is embodied in a simple updating rule, coupled map lattices where space and time are discrete variables but chemical concentrations are continuous and the dynamics is given by a nonlinear function and, lastly, lattice gas cellular automation models that view the system on a microscopic or mesoscopic level where space, time and particle velocities are discrete.