title: Exchange of stability as a function of system size in a nonequilibrium system.
abstract: In equilibrium systems with short-ranged interactions, the relative stability of different thermodynamic states generally does not depend on system size (as long as this size is larger than the interaction range). Here, we use a large deviations approach to show that, in contrast, different states can exchange stability as system size is varied in a driven, bistable reaction-diffusion system. This striking effect is related to a shift from a spatially uniform to a nonuniform transition state and should generically be possible in a wide range of nonequilibrium physical and biological systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1040, USA.
authors.forename: Sorin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tănase-Nicola
authors.forename: David K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Lubensky
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001703:Biophysics / Q000379:methods*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004058:Diffusion; D015233:Models, Statistical; D013598:Systems Theory; D013816:Thermodynamics