Some properties of stochastic equations for coupled chemical reactions far from equilibrium

Solutions of master equations for coupled chemical reactions far from equilibrium with one varying molecule species are studied and used for getting information about nonlinear Fokker-Planck equations and slow time-dependent processes such as extinction to an absorbing state and transition between several steady states. The Fokker-Planck equation solution is compared to that of the master equation in a relative sense and it is shown that they agree quite well in some important situations but that in general the cases can deviate considerably, when, e.g., accounting for the mutual importance of two probability maxima.