Anomalous Nucleation Far from Equilibrium

2005/02/08 by Ivan T. Georgiev, B. Schmittmann, Beate Schmittmann +2
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Markov Chains and Monte Carlo Methods #Stochastic processes and statistical mechanics #Theoretical and Computational Physics #cond-mat.stat-mech

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.94.115701

published as Physical Review Letters 94, 115701-1 -- 4 (2005) · 5 pages, 3 figures, one column

arxiv created 2005/02/08 · openalex publication_date 2005/03/23 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We present precision Monte Carlo data and analytic arguments for an asymmetric exclusion process, involving two species of particles driven in opposite directions on a 2xL lattice. To resolve a stark discrepancy between earlier simulation data and an analytic conjecture, we argue that the presence of a single macroscopic cluster is an intermediate stage of a complex nucleation process: in smaller systems, this cluster is destabilized while larger systems form multiple clusters. Both limits lead to exponential cluster size distributions, controlled by very different length scales.

Citations

• Nonequilibrium steady states of stochastic lattice gas models of fast ionic conductors
• Spatial particle condensation for an exclusion process on a ring
• Statistical physics of vehicular traffic and some related systems

Related

• Clustering and finite size effects in a two-species exclusion process
• Resolving Paradoxes of Classical Nucleation Theory
• Mixed order phase transition in a locally constrained exclusion process
• Testing nucleation calculations for strong phase transitions
• Homogeneous nucleation for two-dimensional Kawasaki dynamics