Chaos in a Stochastic Spatial Model

Rick Durrett and Daniel Remenik

Abstract. We investigate an interacting particle system inspired by the gypsy moth, whose populations grow until they become sufficiently dense so that an epidemic reduces them to a low level. We consider this process on the two-dimensional lattice, torus, and random 3-regular graph. On the finite graphs with global dispersal or with a dispersal radius that grows with the number of sites, we prove convergence to a dynamical system that is chaotic for some parameter values. We conjecture that on the infinite lattice with a fixed finite dispersal distance, distant parts of the lattice oscillate out of phase so there is a unique non-trivial stationary distribution.

Preprint Annals of Applied Probability, to appear


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