Anomalous nucleation far from equilibrium.
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.
Georgiev
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IT
Center for Stochastic Processes in Science and Engineering and Department of Physics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0435, USA.
Schmittmann
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B
Zia
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RK