A model for codependent reversible/irreversible growth processes

A model for codependent growth that combines reversible and irreversible bond formation is developed. The system is composed of two processes: A reversible process which is fast but does not lead to a stable growth by itself, while the irreversible process is stable but is too slow to occur by itself. Therefore, neither the reversible nor the irreversible growth processes will occur separately, but their combination is shown to yield a new type of stable, codependent growth. Using kinetic Monte Carlo techniques we simulate and analyze the general properties of this codependent growth. We discuss the general conditions for such growth and its applications to self-organization processes.