Remarks on accessible steady states for some coagulation-fragmentation systems

Abstract

In this paper we consider some systems of ordinary differential equations which are related to coagulation-fragmentation processes. In particular, we obtain explicit solutions {c(k)(t)} of such systems which involve certain coefficients obtained by solving a suitable algebraic recurrence relation. The coefficients are derived in two relevant cases: the high-functionality limit and the Flory-Stockmayer model. The solutions thus obtained are polydisperse (that is, c(k)(0) is different from zero for all k >= 1) and may exhibit monotonically increasing or decreasing total mass. We also solve a monodisperse case (where c(1)(0) is different from zero but c(k)(0)is equal to zero for all k >= 2) in the high-functionality limit. In contrast to the previous result, the corresponding solution is now shown to display a sol-gel transition when the total initial mass is larger than one, but not when such mass is less than or equal to one.