Validity of the Law of Mass Action in Three-Dimensional Coagulation Processes

Abstract

Diffusion-limited reactions are studied in detail on the classical coalescing process. We demonstrate how, with the aid of a recent renormalization group approach, fluctuations can be integrated systematically. We thereby obtain an exact relation between the microscopic physics (lattice structure and particle shape and size) and the macroscopic decay rate in the law of mass action. Moreover, we find a strong violation of the law of mass action. The corresponding term in the kinetic equations originates in long-wavelength fluctuations and is a universal function of the macroscopic decay rate.