Abstract
We study the effects of quenched extended impurities on nonequilibrium phase transitions in the directed percolation universality class. We show that these impurities have a dramatic effect: they completely destroy the sharp phase transition by smearing. This is caused by rare strongly coupled spatial regions which can undergo the phase transition independently from the bulk system. We use extremal statistics to determine the stationary state as well as the dynamics in the tail of the smeared transition, and we illustrate the results by computer simulations.
Recommended Citation
T. Vojta, "Broadening of a Nonequilibrium Phase Transition by Extended Structural Defects," Physical Review E, American Physical Society (APS), Aug 2004.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.70.026108
Department(s)
Physics
Sponsor(s)
National Science Foundation (U.S.)
University of Missouri Research Board
Keywords and Phrases
Computer Simulation; Hamiltonians; Grain Boundaries; Nonequilibrium Phase Transitions; Quenching
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
1539-3755; 2470-0045
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Final Version
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2004 American Physical Society (APS), All rights reserved.
Publication Date
19 Aug 2004
