# How do I construct this kinetic diagram within LaTeX?

I am interested in trying to code the diagram as shown in the attached picture.

So far, I can only code something like this:

$$S_0 \overset{2\alpha}{\underset{\beta}{\leftrightarrows}} S_1 \overset{\alpha}{\underset{2\beta}{\leftrightarrows}} S_2,$$


How do I get the vertical double arrows so that I can construct this diagram?

Thank-you.

• with tikz-cd package? – Zarko Mar 1 at 20:03
• Probably you could make use of the tikz-cd package. – leandriis Mar 1 at 20:03

To first approximation

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz-cd}
\begin{document}
$\begin{tikzcd} S_{00}\arrow[r,shift left=2pt,"2\alpha"] \arrow[d,shift left=2pt,"\gamma"] & |[blue]| \arrow[l,shift left=2pt,"\beta"] \arrow[d,shift left=2pt,"\gamma"] S_{10} \arrow[r,shift left=2pt,"\alpha"] & |[red]| \arrow[l,shift left=2pt,"2\beta"] S_{20} \arrow[d,shift left=2pt,"\gamma"] \\ S_{01}\arrow[r,shift left=2pt,"\alpha"] \arrow[u,shift left=2pt,"\delta"] & |[blue]| \arrow[l,shift left=2pt,"\beta"] S_{11} \arrow[r,shift left=2pt,"\alpha"] \arrow[u,shift left=2pt,"\delta"] & |[red]| \arrow[l,shift left=2pt,"2\beta"] S_{21} \arrow[u,shift left=2pt,"\delta"] \\ \end{tikzcd}$
\end{document}


You can simplify things a bit using styles.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz-cd}
\begin{document}
$\begin{tikzcd}[column sep=large,every arrow/.append style={shift left=2pt}] S_{00}\arrow[r,"2\alpha"] \arrow[d,"\gamma"] & |[blue]| \arrow[l,"\beta"] \arrow[d,"\gamma"] S_{10} \arrow[r,"\alpha"] & |[red]| \arrow[l,"2\beta"] S_{20} \arrow[d,"\gamma"] \\ S_{01}\arrow[r,"\alpha"] \arrow[u,"\delta"] & |[blue]| \arrow[l,"\beta"] S_{11} \arrow[r,"\alpha"] \arrow[u,"\delta"] & |[red]| \arrow[l,"2\beta"] S_{21} \arrow[u,"\delta"] \\ \end{tikzcd}$
\end{document}


Of course it is a bit boring to add the column and row indices by hand, so let's let TikZ take care of that.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz-cd}
\begin{document}
$\begin{tikzcd}[column sep=large,every arrow/.append style={shift left=2pt}, /tikz/cells={nodes={execute at begin node=S_{\the\numexpr\pgfmatrixcurrentcolumn-1\relax\the\numexpr\pgfmatrixcurrentrow-1\relax}}}, /tikz/column 2/.style={blue},/tikz/column 3/.style={red}] \arrow[r,"2\alpha"] \arrow[d,"\gamma"] & \arrow[l,"\beta"] \arrow[d,"\gamma"] \arrow[r,"\alpha"] & \arrow[l,"2\beta"] \arrow[d,"\gamma"] \\ \arrow[r,"\alpha"] \arrow[u,"\delta"] & \arrow[l,"\beta"] \arrow[r,"\alpha"] \arrow[u,"\delta"] & \arrow[l,"2\beta"] \arrow[u,"\delta"] \\ \end{tikzcd}$
\end{document}


• Thank-you very much! – Sas Mar 1 at 20:08

You also can build such a diagram with the psmatrix environment:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pst-node}
\usepackage{auto-pst-pdf}

\begin{document}

$\psset{arrows=->, arrowinset=0.1, linewidth=0.5pt, nodesep=3pt, labelsep=2pt,shortput=nab}% \everypsbox{\scriptstyle} \begin{psmatrix}[rowsep=1cm] %%%nodes S_{00} & {\color{blue}S_{10}} &{\color{red}S_{20}} \\ S_{01} & {\color{blue}S_{11}} & {\color{red}S_{21}} %%% horizontal arrows \psset{offset =0.5ex, nodesep=2pt} \ncline{1,1}{1,2}^{2\alpha} \ncline{1,2}{1,3}^{\alpha} \ncline{1,2}{1,1}_{\beta} \ncline{1,3}{1,2}_{2\beta} \ncline{2,1}{2,2}^{\alpha} \ncline{2,2}{2,3}^{\alpha} \ncline{2,2}{2,1}_{\beta} \ncline{2,3}{2,2}_{2\beta} %%% vertical arrows \psset{offset=-0.5ex} \foreach \i in{1,2,3}{\ncline{1,\i}{2,\i}<{\gamma} \ncline{2,\i}{1,\i}>{\delta}} \end{psmatrix}$

\end{document}


The xypic package is also good at this sort of diagram.

\documentclass[border=5mm]{standalone}
\usepackage[all]{xy}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\begin{document}
\xymatrix@C=1in@R=0.5in{
S_{00} \ar @<-2pt> [d]_{\gamma} \ar @<2pt> [r]^{2\alpha}
& \color{blue} S_{10} \ar @<-2pt> [d]_{\gamma} \ar @<2pt> [r]^{\alpha} \ar @<2pt> [l]^{\beta}
& \color{red}  S_{20} \ar @<-2pt> [d]_{\gamma}                         \ar @<2pt> [l]^{2\beta}
\\
S_{01} \ar @<-2pt> [u]_{\delta} \ar @<2pt> [r]^{2\alpha}
& \color{blue} S_{11} \ar @<-2pt> [u]_{\delta} \ar @<2pt> [r]^{\alpha} \ar @<2pt> [l]^{\beta}
& \color{red}  S_{21} \ar @<-2pt> [u]_{\delta}                         \ar @<2pt> [l]^{2\beta}
\\
}
\end{document}


## Notes

• on \xymatrix the optional @C=1in sets the column spacing to 1 inch ...
• ... and @R=0.5in sets the row spacing to 0.5 inch
• cells are separated by & and \\ just like a tabular or an array
• each arrow is drawn by an \ar command with three modifers
• @... affects the exact position of the arrow, in this case <dimen> moves the arrow sideways. You could also try @/_/ or @/^/ to make it bend a bit.
• [..] determines where the arrow goes to, so [d] means one cell downwards, [r] one cell right, and so on.
• ^{....} or _{....} adds a label on the left or right of the arrow.
• Spaces are usually optional, I've used them here to line things up neatly.

There are many more controls explained in the excellent manual: texdoc xy