Coexistence results for catalysts

Summary In this paper we consider a modification of Ziff, Gulari and Barshad's (1986) model of oxidation of carbon monoxide on a catalyst surface in which the reactants are mobile on the catalyst surface. We find regions in the parameter space in which poisoning occurs (the catalyst surface becomes completely occupied by one type of atom) and another in which there is a translation invariant stationary distribution in which the two atoms have positive density. The last result is proved by exploiting a connection between the particle system with fast stirring and a limiting system of reaction diffusion equations.