title: Generic finite size scaling for discontinuous nonequilibrium phase transitions into absorbing states.
abstract: Based on quasistationary distribution ideas, a general finite size scaling theory is proposed for discontinuous nonequilibrium phase transitions into absorbing states. Analogously to the equilibrium case, we show that quantities such as response functions, cumulants, and equal area probability distributions all scale with the volume, thus allowing proper estimates for the thermodynamic limit. To illustrate these results, five very distinct lattice models displaying nonequilibrium transitions-to single and infinitely many absorbing states-are investigated. The innate difficulties in analyzing absorbing phase transitions are circumvented through quasistationary simulation methods. Our findings (allied to numerical studies in the literature) strongly point to a unifying discontinuous phase transition scaling behavior for equilibrium and this important class of nonequilibrium systems.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física e Matemática, CAP, Universidade Federal de São João del Rei, Ouro Branco, MG 36420-000 Brazil.|Theoretical Physics Division, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR 81531-980, Brazil.
authors.forename: M G E
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: da Luz
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Física, Universidade de São Paulo, Caixa Postal 66318, São Paulo, SP 05315-970, Brazil.
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Fiore