Abstract
We study the effects of the boundary conditions in a driven diffusive lattice-gas model which is known to display kinetic phase transitions. We find, in the case of attractive interaction, that a boundary-condition-induced symmetry breaking of the translational invariance, along the direction of the external field, destroys the second-order kinetic phase transition. This feature is absent in equilibrium systems. In the repulsive case, the phase diagram and critical properties are probably unaltered.
- Received 19 December 1990
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.43.8744
©1991 American Physical Society