Effective temperature in an interacting vertex system: theory and experiment on artificial spin ice.
Frustrated arrays of interacting single-domain nanomagnets provide important model systems for statistical mechanics, as they map closely onto well-studied vertex models and are amenable to direct imaging and custom engineering. Although these systems are manifestly athermal, we demonstrate that an effective temperature, controlled by an external magnetic drive, describes their microstates and therefore their full statistical properties.
Nisoli
Cristiano
C
Theoretical Division and Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
Li
Jie
J
Ke
Xianglin
X
Garand
D
D
Schiffer
Peter
P
Crespi
Vincent H
VH