Exchange of stability as a function of system size in a nonequilibrium system

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that in nonequilibrium systems, the relative stability of states can change with system size, unlike in equilibrium systems, due to a shift in transition states, with implications for physical and biological systems.

Contribution

It introduces a large deviations approach to show size-dependent stability exchange in a driven, bistable reaction-diffusion system, highlighting a novel nonequilibrium phenomenon.

Findings

Stability exchange depends on system size in nonequilibrium systems.

Transition state shifts from uniform to nonuniform as size varies.

This effect is likely common in various physical and biological systems.

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.