Critical dynamics of classical systems under slow quench

Priyanka, K. Jain

Published 2016-07-03Version 1

We study the slow quench dynamics of a one-dimensional nonequilibrium lattice gas model which exhibits a phase transition in the stationary state between fluid phase with homogeneously distributed particles and jammed phase with a macroscopic hole cluster. Using numerical simulations and analytical arguments, we find that close to the critical point where dynamics are assumed to be frozen in the standard Kibble-Zurek argument, the defect density exhibits an algebraic decay in the inverse annealing rate with an exponent that can be understood using critical coarsening dynamics. However, before the critical point is crossed, Kibble-Zurek scaling holds. We also find that when the slow quench occurs deep into the jammed phase, the defect density behavior can be explained by the rapid quench dynamics in this phase.