CONDENSATION IN DENSITY DEPENDENT ZERO RANGE PROCESSES

We consider zero range processes with density dependent jump rates g given by $g=g(n,k)=g_1(n)g_2(k/n)$ with $g_1(x)=x^{-\alpha}$ and $$g_2(x)=\{^{x^{-\alpha}\;if\;a&lt;x}_{Mx^{-\alpha}\;if\;x{\leq}a}$$. (0.1) In this case, with 1/2 < a < 1 and ${\alpha}$ > 0, we show that non-complete condensation occurs with maximum cluster size an. More precisely, for any ${\epsilon}$ > 0, there exists $M^*$ > 0 such that, for any 0 < M ${\leq}M^*$, the maximum cluster size is between (a - ${\epsilon}$)n and (a + ${\epsilon}$)n for large n. This provides a simple example of non-complete condensation under perturbation of rates which are deep in the range of perfect condensation (e.g. ${\alpha}$ >> 1) and supports the instability of the condensation transition.