No Arabic abstract
While equilibrium phase transitions are well described by a free-energy landscape, there are few tools to describe general features of their non-equilibrium counterparts. On the other hand, near-equilibrium free-energies are easily accessible but their full geometry is only explored in non-equilibrium, e.g. after a quench. In the particular case of a non-stationary system, however, the concepts of an order parameter and free energy become ill-defined, and a comprehensive understanding of non-stationary (transient) phase transitions is still lacking. Here, we probe transient non-equilibrium dynamics of an optically pumped, dye-filled microcavity which exhibits near-equilibrium Bose-Einstein condensation under steady-state conditions. By rapidly exciting a large number of dye molecules, we quench the system to a far-from-equilibrium state and, close to a critical excitation energy, find delayed condensation, interpreted as a transient equivalent of critical slowing down. We introduce the two-time, non-stationary, second-order correlation function as a powerful experimental tool for probing the statistical properties of the transient relaxation dynamics. In addition to number fluctuations near the critical excitation energy, we show that transient phase transitions exhibit a different form of diverging fluctuations, namely timing jitter in the growth of the order parameter. This jitter is seeded by the randomness associated with spontaneous emission, with its effect being amplified near the critical point. The general character of our results are then discussed based on the geometry of effective free-energy landscapes. We thus identify universal features, such as the formation timing jitter, for a larger set of systems undergoing transient phase transitions. Our results carry immediate implications to diverse systems, including micro- and nano-lasers and growth of colloidal nanoparticles.
Non-equilibrium real-space condensation is a phenomenon in which a finite fraction of some conserved quantity (mass, particles, etc.) becomes spatially localised. We review two popular stochastic models of hopping particles that lead to condensation and whose stationary states assume a factorized form: the zero-range process and the misanthrope process, and their various modifications. We also introduce a new model - a misanthrope process with parallel dynamics - that exhibits condensation and has a pair-factorized stationary state.
We study the structure of stationary non equilibrium states for interacting particle systems from a microscopic viewpoint. In particular we discuss two different discrete geometric constructions. We apply both of them to determine non reversible transition rates corresponding to a fixed invariant measure. The first one uses the equivalence of this problem with the construction of divergence free flows on the transition graph. Since divergence free flows are characterized by cyclic decompositions we can generate families of models from elementary cycles on the configuration space. The second construction is a functional discrete Hodge decomposition for translational covariant discrete vector fields. According to this, for example, the instantaneous current of any interacting particle system on a finite torus can be canonically decomposed in a gradient part, a circulation term and an harmonic component. All the three components are associated to functions on the configuration space. This decomposition is unique and constructive. The stationary condition can be interpreted as an orthogonality condition with respect to an harmonic discrete vector field and we use this decomposition to construct models having a fixed invariant measure.
Systems kept out of equilibrium in stationary states by an external source of energy store an energy $Delta U=U-U_0$. $U_0$ is the internal energy at equilibrium state, obtained after the shutdown of energy input. We determine $Delta U$ for two model systems: ideal gas and Lennard-Jones fluid. $Delta U$ depends not only on the total energy flux, $J_U$, but also on the mode of energy transfer into the system. We use three different modes of energy transfer where: the energy flux per unit volume is (i) constant; (ii) proportional to the local temperature (iii) proportional to the local density. We show that $Delta U /J_U=tau$ is minimized in the stationary states formed in these systems, irrespective of the mode of energy transfer. $tau$ is the characteristic time scale of energy outflow from the system immediately after the shutdown of energy flux. We prove that $tau$ is minimized in stable states of the Rayleigh-Benard cell.
We study the stochastic motion of particles driven by long-range correlated fractional Gaussian noise in a superharmonic external potential of the form $U(x)propto x^{2n}$ ($ninmathbb{N}$). When the noise is considered to be external, the resulting overdamped motion is described by the non-Markovian Langevin equation for fractional Brownian motion. For this case we show the existence of long time, stationary probability density functions (PDFs) the shape of which strongly deviates from the naively expected Boltzmann PDF in the confining potential $U(x)$. We analyse in detail the temporal approach to stationarity as well as the shape of the non-Boltzmann stationary PDF. A typical characteristic is that subdiffusive, antipersistent (with negative autocorrelation) motion tends to effect an accumulation of probability close to the origin as compared to the corresponding Boltzmann distribution while the opposite trend occurs for superdiffusive (persistent) motion. For this latter case this leads to distinct bimodal shapes of the PDF. This property is compared to a similar phenomenon observed for Markovian L{e}vy flights in superharmonic potentials. We also demonstrate that the motion encoded in the fractional Langevin equation driven by fractional Gaussian noise always relaxes to the Boltzmann distribution, as in this case the fluctuation-dissipation theorem is fulfilled.
The 2-fold degeneracy of the ground state of a quasi-one-dimensional system allows it to support topological excitations such as solitons. We study the combined effects of Coulomb interactions and confinement due to interchain coupling on the statistics of such defects. We concentrate on a 2D case which may correspond to monolayers of polyacetylene or other charge density waves. The theory is developped by a mapping to the 2D Ising model with long-range 4-spin interactions. The phase diagram exhibits deconfined phases for liquids and Wigner crystals of kinks and confined ones for bikinks. Also we find aggregated phases with either infinite domain walls of kinks or finite rods of bikinks. Roughening effects due to both temperature and Coulomb repulsion are observed. Applications may concern the melting of stripes in doped correlated materials.