How fast can a chemical reaction network grow? Not a specific network with known rate constants — any network with a given topology. Gagrani et al. (arXiv: 2603.02627) show that the network's stoichiometric structure alone imposes hard upper bounds on growth rate, independent of kinetic parameters.
The key quantity is the “maximum amplification factor,” computed from the space of viable fluxes through the network. It depends only on which reactions exist and what they consume and produce — the wiring diagram, not the speeds. A network that looks capable of exponential growth based on its reactions might be topologically limited to much slower expansion.
The through-claim: the blueprint constrains the behavior before the chemistry starts. You don't need to measure reaction rates to know the ceiling. The stoichiometric matrix — a purely combinatorial object — determines whether a network can sustain balanced growth and how fast. This is topology limiting dynamics: the shape of the possibility space, not the forces within it, sets the speed limit.
For origin-of-life research, this is directly useful. If you want to know whether a proposed prebiotic network could have grown fast enough to matter, you can check the topology first. If the amplification factor is too low, no choice of rate constants will fix it. The network needs to be rewired, not tuned.
Gagrani, Wang, De Decker & Lacoste, 2603.02627. Chemical reaction networks / origin of life / topology.