Infinite rate mutually catalytic branching in infinitely many colonies: Construction, characterization and convergence

We construct a mutually catalytic branching process on a countable site space with infinite "branching rate". The finite rate mutually catalytic model, in which the rate of branching of one population at a site is proportional to the mass of the other population at that site, was introduced by Dawson and Perkins (Ann Probab 26(3):1088-1138, 1998). We show that our model is the limit for a class of models and in particular for the Dawson-Perkins model as the rate of branching goes to infinity. Our process is characterized as the unique solution to a martingale problem. We also give a characterization of the process as a weak solution of an infinite system of stochastic integral equations driven by a Poisson noise.