Past exam of the theoretical physics major option course of the University of Oxford / 2015 / 1 / b

Use states $0,A,B$, where $0$ denotes an empty molecule and the other states denote its single occupied site. The source arrows give $0\to A$ at rate $f_1$, $A\to 0$ at rate $f_4$, $A\to B$ at rate $f_2$, and $B\to A$ at rate $f_3$. ThusEach diagonal entry is the negative total escape rate from its column's state. In particular, the empty state cannot make a direct jump to $B$: the reservoir touches $A$ alone. Conversely, $A\to B$ is not a second charge arriving on the molecule; it is an internal hop of its existing charge. Summing the three equations gives $d(p_0+p_A+p_B)/dt=0$, which checks the master equation convention and the single-charge constraint.