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We consider a mortal random walker on a family of hierarchical graphs in the presence of some trap sites. The configuration comprising the graph, the starting point of the walk, and the locations of the trap sites is taken to be exactly self-similar as one goes from one generation of the family to the next. Under these circumstances, the total probability that the walker hits a trap is determined exactly as a function of the single-step survival probability $q$ of the mortal walker. On the $n^{\rm th}$ generation graph of the family, this probability is shown to be given by the $n^{\rm th}$ iterate of a certain scaling function or map $q \rightarrow f(q)$. The properties of the map then determine, in each case, the behavior of the trapping probability, the mean time to trapping, the temporal scaling factor governing the random walk dimension on the graph, and other related properties. The formalism is illustrated for the cases of a linear hierarchical lattice and the Sierpinski graphs in $2$ and $3$ Euclidean dimensions. We find an effective reduction of the random walk dimensionality due to the ballistic behavior of the surviving particles induced by the mortality constraint. The relevance of this finding for experiments involving travel times of particles in diffusion-decay systems is discussed., Comment: 40 pages, 6 figures

We study diffusion-reaction processes on periodic square planar lattices and simple cubic (sc) lattices. Considered first is a single diffusing reactant undergoing an irreversible reaction upon first encounter with a stationary co-reactant ["one-walker (1W) problem"]. We then generalize this scenario to allow for a competing reaction, i.e., instantaneous trapping of the diffusing reactant with probability $s$ at any vacant site before interacting with a (stationary) co-reactant at a target site. We determine the mean walklength of the diffusing reactant until irreversible reaction occurs. We use generating functions and the theory of finite Markov processes, as well as MC simulations. To investigate the dependence of walklength on lattice size we compute the first, finite size corrections to the Green function of the sc lattice, and provide a Pad\'e approximation for this quantity. Finally, we consider the case where both reactant and co-reactant undergo synchronous nearest-neighbor displacements ["two-walker (2W) problem"]. In this case, reactant and co-reactant can individually be trapped with probability $s$ at any vacant lattice site, or can undergo an irreversible reaction on first encounter at any site. When $s=0$ we find that, both for the 1W and the 2W problem, for lattices with (approximately) the same number of sites, the mean walklength is smaller (and hence the reaction efficiency greater) in $d=3$ than in $d=2$. Increasing $s$ tends to reduce differences in system dimensionality, and distinctions between the 1W problem and the 2W problem. Our model provides a good starting point to develop studies on the efficiency of apparently diverse diffusion-reaction processes, such as diffusion on a partially poisoned catalytic substrate or photosynthetic trapping of excitations., Comment: 32 pages, 2 figures. The previous version has been expanded to incorporate a new formula [Eq. (8)], as well as the corresponding derivation in a new appendix. Minor changes in the text have also been performed

The efficiency of an encounter-controlled two-channel reaction between two independently-mobile reactants on a lattice is characterized by the mean number $\rt$ of steps to reaction. The two reactants are distinguished by their mass with the "light" walker performing a jump to a nearest-neighbor site in each time step, while the "heavy" walker hops only with a probability $p$; we associate $p$ with the "temperature" of the system. Lattices subject to periodic and to confining boundary conditions are considered. For periodic lattices, depending on the initial state, the reaction time either falls off monotonically with $p$ or displays a local minimum with respect to $p$; occurrence of the latter signals a regime where the efficiency of the reaction effectively decreases with increasing temperature. Such behavior disappears if the jump probability of the light walker falls below a characteristic threshold value. In lattices subject to confining boundary conditions, the behavior is more complex. Depending on the initial conditions, the reaction time as a function of $p$ may increase monotonically, decrease monotonically, display a single maximum or even a maximum and minimum. These inverted regions are a consequence of a strictly classical interplay between excluded volume effects implicit in the specification of the two reaction channels, and the system's dimensionality and spatial extent. Our results highlight situations where the description of an encounter-controlled reactive event cannot be described by a single, effective diffusion coefficient. We also distinguish between the inversion region identified here and the Marcus inverted region which arises in electron transfer reactions., Comment: revtex4 manuscript, approx. 45 pages, contains 18 figures and 18 tables, uses placeins.sty file