title: Reconstruction of the free energy in the metastable region using the path ensemble.
abstract: By quenching into the metastable region of the three-dimensional Ising model, we investigate the paths that the magnetization (energy) takes as a function of time. We accumulate the magnetization (energy) paths into time-dependent distributions from which we reconstruct the free energy as a function of the magnetic field, temperature, and system size. From the reconstructed free energy, we obtain the free-energy barrier that is associated with the transition from a metastable state to the stable equilibrium state. Although mean-field theory predicts a sharp transition between the metastable and the unstable region where the free-energy barrier is zero, the results for the nearest-neighbor Ising model show that the free-energy barrier does not go to zero.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Heidelberg, Philosophenweg 19, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Armando Ticona
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Bustillos
authors.forename: Dieter W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Heermann
authors.forename: Claudette E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Cordeiro