Catalytic branching and the Brownian snake

Abstract

We construct a catalytic super process X (measure-valued spatial branching process) where the local branching rate is governed by an additive functional A of the motion process. These processes have been investigated before but under restrictive assumptions on A. Here we do not even need continuity of A. The key is to introduce a new time scale in which motion and branching occur at a varying speed but are continuous. Another aspect is to consider X in the generic time scale of the branching—and not of the motion process. This allows to give an explicit construction of X using the Brownian snake. As a by-product this yields an almost sure approximation by the corresponding branching particle systems.