Anomalous finite-size scaling at thermal first-order transitions in systems with disordered boundary conditions

Abstract

We investigate the equilibrium and off-equilibrium behaviors of systems at thermal first-order transitions (FOTs) when the boundary conditions favor one of the two phases. As a theoretical laboratory we consider the two-dimensional Potts model. We show that an anomalous finite-size scaling emerges in systems with open boundary conditions favoring the disordered phase, associated with a mixed regime where the two phases are spatially separated. Correspondingly, if the system is slowly heated across the transition, the characteristic times of the off-equilibrium dynamics scale with a power of the size. We argue that these features generally apply to systems at FOTs, when boundary conditions favor one of the two phases. In particular, they should be relevant for the experimental search of FOTs of the quark-gluon plasma in heavy-ion collisions.

arXiv comment5 pages

References in corpus (16)

• Theory of Phase Ordering Kinetics
• Multicanonical Ensemble: A New Approach to Simulate First-order Phase Transitions
• Signatures of Quark-Gluon-Plasma formation in high energy heavy-ion collisions: A critical review
• The Kibble-Zurek Problem: Universality and the Scaling Limit
• Integrated Dynamical Approach to Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions
• Spinodal amplification of density fluctuations in fluid-dynamical simulations of relativistic nuclear collisions
• Finite-size scaling at first-order quantum transitions
• Quantum transitions driven by one-bond defects in quantum Ising rings
• Quantum Ising chains with boundary fields
• A Determination of Interface Free Energies
• Dynamic off-equilibrium transition in systems slowly driven across thermal first-order phase transitions
• Finite-size scaling at the first-order quantum transitions of quantum Potts chains
• Out-of-equilibrium dynamics driven by localized time-dependent perturbations at quantum phase transitions
• Finite-size scaling at first-order quantum transitions when boundary conditions favor one of the two phases
• Microcanonical Determination of the Interface Tension of Flat and Curved Interfaces from Monte Carlo Simulations
• Beam energy scan theory: Status and open questions

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Coherent and dissipative dynamics at quantum phase transitions
• Lattice Abelian-Higgs model with noncompact gauge fields
• Three-dimensional ferromagnetic CP(N-1) models
• Scaling properties of the dynamics at first-order quantum transitions when boundary conditions favor one of the two phases
• Scaling behavior of Ising systems at first-order transitions
• Ising-QCD phenomenology close to the critical point
• Out-of-equilibrium scaling behavior arising during round-trip protocols across a quantum first-order transition
• Out-of-equilibrium dynamics across the first-order quantum transitions of one-dimensional quantum Ising models
• Modified Abelian and SU(2) Wilson theories on a lattice from a non-compact regularization
• Spinodal-like scaling behavior after a temperature quench across the first-order phase transition in three-dimensional $q$-state Potts models