title: Anomalous nucleation far from equilibrium.
abstract: We present precision Monte Carlo data and analytic arguments for an asymmetric exclusion process, involving two species of particles driven in opposite directions on a 2xL lattice. To resolve a stark discrepancy between earlier simulation data and an analytic conjecture, we argue that the presence of a single macroscopic cluster is an intermediate stage of a complex nucleation process: in smaller systems, this cluster is destabilized while larger systems form multiple clusters. Both limits lead to exponential cluster size distributions, controlled by very different length scales.
authors.affiliation: Center for Stochastic Processes in Science and Engineering and Department of Physics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0435, USA.
authors.forename: I T
authors.initials: IT
authors.lastname: Georgiev
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schmittmann
authors.forename: R K P
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Zia