Large deviation functions in a system of diffusing particles with creation and annihilation.

Large deviation functions for an exactly solvable lattice gas model of diffusing particles on a ring, subject to pair annihilation and creation, are obtained analytically using exact free-fermion techniques. Our findings for the large deviation function for the current are compared to recent results of Appert-Rolland et al. [Phys. Rev. E 78, 021122 (2008)] for diffusive systems with conserved particle number. Unlike conservative dynamics, our nonconservative model has no universal finite-size corrections for the cumulants. However, the leading Gaussian part has the same variance as in the conservative case. We also elucidate some properties of the large deviation functions associated with particle creation and annihilation.