Fluctuating hydrodynamics approach to chemical reactions

✍ Scribed by I. Pagonabarraga; A. Pérez-Madrid; J.M. Rubí

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 660 KB
• Volume: 237
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0378-4371
• DOI: 10.1016/s0378-4371(96)00377-9

✦ Synopsis

We have used the thermodynamical description of a chemical reaction as a diffusion process along an internal coordinate to analyze fluctuations in the density of the constituents, which are treated under the framework of fluctuating hydrodynamics. We then obtain a Langevin equation for the density, as a function of the internal coordinate, whose stochastic source statisfies a fluctuation-dissipation theorem. After contraction of the description, by means of integration in the internal coordinate, we derive the Langevin equation for the concentration of reactants and products as well as the statistical properties of the random source which agree with the corresponding results obtained by means of Keizer's theory. Application of the formalism is illustrated by considering particular cases. An extension to coupled chemical reactions is also discussed.