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arXiv:1206.0290 [cond-mat.stat-mech]AbstractReferencesReviewsResources

Exchange of stability as a function of system size in a nonequilibrium system

Sorin Tanase-Nicola, David K. Lubensky

Published 2012-06-01Version 1

In equilibrium systems with short-ranged interactions, the relative stability of different thermodynamic states generally does not depend on system size (as long as this size is larger than the interaction range). Here, we use a large deviations approach to show that, in contrast, different states can exchange stability as system size is varied in a driven, bistable reaction-diffusion system. This striking effect is related to a shift from a spatially uniform to a nonuniform transition state and should generically be possible in a wide range of nonequilibrium physical and biological systems.

Comments: 7 pages, 4 figures. Supporting Material included in same file with main text
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