Abstract
We study the two-dimensional kinetic Ising model below its equilibrium critical temperature, subject to a square-wave oscillating external field. We focus on the multidroplet regime, where the metastable phase decays through nucleation and growth of many droplets of the stable phase. At a critical frequency, the system undergoes a genuine nonequilibrium phase transition, in which the symmetry-broken phase corresponds to an asymmetric stationary limit cycle for the time-dependent magnetization. We investigate the universal aspects of this dynamic phase transition at various temperatures and field amplitudes via large-scale Monte Carlo simulations, employing finite-size scaling techniques adopted from equilibrium critical phenomena. The critical exponents, the fixed-point value of the fourth-order cumulant, and the critical order-parameter distribution all are consistent with the universality class of the two-dimensional equilibrium Ising model. We also study the cross-over from the multidroplet regime to the strong-field regime, where the transition disappears.
- Received 8 August 2000
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.63.016120
©2000 American Physical Society