Computation of nucleation of a non-equilibrium first-order phase transition using a rare-event algorithm

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel rare-event sampling algorithm, FFST, enabling efficient measurement of transition times in non-equilibrium systems, demonstrated through a catalytic surface reaction model.

Contribution

Introduction of the FFST algorithm for accurately measuring transition times in non-equilibrium phase transitions.

Findings

Successfully measured transition times and points in the Ziff-Gulari-Barshad model.

Demonstrated efficiency of FFST in non-equilibrium systems.

Provided insights into the kinetics of first-order phase transitions.

Abstract

We introduce a new Forward-Flux Sampling in Time (FFST) algorithm to efficiently measure transition times in rare-event processes in non-equilibrium systems, and apply it to study the first-order (discontinuous) kinetic transition in the Ziff-Gulari-Barshad model of catalytic surface reaction. The average time for the transition to take place, as well as both the spinodal and transition points, are clearly found by this method.