Anomalous kinetics of reaction diffusion fronts

Abstract

We review our recent studies on the A + B → C reaction—diffusion system with initially separated components and describe the novel kinetic properties of the reaction front. When the reaction is slow, the two species will mix before reacting. This leads to a series of cross-overs in the kinetic properties from a rich initial behaviour to an asymptotic time behaviour. We focus on the non-universal and non-monotonic motion of the reaction front centre and discuss the possibilities of one or two switches in the direction of motion of the front, as well as other types of motion. The anomalous kinetics depend on the system parameters, namely the diffusion coefficients and the initial densities of the two species.