Critical behavior of a lattice prey-predator model

Abstract

The critical properties of a simple prey-predator model are revisited. For some values of the control parameters, the model exhibits a line of directed percolationlike transitions to a single absorbing state. For other values of the control parameters one finds a second line of continuous transitions toward an infinite number of absorbing states, and the corresponding steady-state exponents are mean-field-like. The critical behavior of the special point T (bicritical point), where the two transition lines meet, belongs to a different universality class. A particular strategy for preparing the initial states used for the dynamical Monte Carlo method is devised to correctly describe the physics of the system near the second transition line. Relationships with a forest fire model with immunization are also discussed.