Random sequential adsorption on a line: mean-field theory of diffusional relaxation

Abstract

We develop a new fast-diffusion approximation for the kinetics of deposition of extended objects on a linear substrate, accompanied by diffusional relaxation. This new approximation plays the role of the mean-field theory for such processes and is valid over a significantly larger range than an earlier variant, which was based on a mapping to chemical reactions. In particular, continuum-limit off-lattice deposition is described naturally within our approximation. The criteria for the applicability of the mean-field theory are derived. While deposition of dimers, and marginally, trimers, is affected by fluctuations, we find that the k-mer deposition kinetics is asymptotically mean-field like for all k=4,5,...., +∞ where the limit k→∞, when properly defined, describes deposition-diffusion kinetics in the continuum.