Modeling stochastic reaction-diffusion via boundary conditions and interaction functions

In this thesis, we study two stochastic reaction diffusion models - the diffusion limited reaction model of Smoluchowski, and a second approach popularized by Doi. Both models treat molecules as points undergoing Brownian motion. The former represents chemical reactions between two reactants through the use of reactive boundary conditions, with two molecules reacting instantly upon reaching the boundary of a properly embedded open set, termed the reaction region (or more generally some fixed lower dimensional sub-manifold). The Doi model uses reaction potentials, supported in the reaction region, whereby two molecules react with a fixed probability per unit time, λ, upon entering the reaction region. The problem considered is that of obtaining estimates for convergence rates, in λ, of the Doi model to the Smoluchowski model. This problem fits into the theory of singular perturbation or optimization, depending on which reactive boundary conditions one considers, and we solve it - at least for the bimolecular reaction with one stationary target