Fractional reaction-diffusion equation

A fractional reaction-diffusion equation is derived from a continuous time random walk model when the transport is dispersive. The exit from the encounter distance, which is described by the algebraic waiting time distribution of jump motion, interferes with the reaction at the encounter distance. Therefore, the reaction term has a memory effect. The derived equation is applied to the geminate recombination problem. The recombination is shown to depend on the intrinsic reaction rate, in contrast with the results of Sung [J. Chem. Phys. 116, 2338 (2002)], which were obtained from the fractional reaction-diffusion equation where the diffusion term has a memory effect but the reaction term does not. The reactivity dependence of the recombination probability is confirmed by numerical simulations. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.