Emergent Universality in Nonequilibrium Processes of Critical Systems

TL;DR

This paper investigates the Jarzynski equality in critical systems undergoing phase transitions, revealing universal scaling behavior of deviations influenced by finite sampling and critical phenomena.

Contribution

It demonstrates that deviations from the Jarzynski equality near critical points follow a universal scaling law related to second-order phase transition properties.

Findings

Deviation scales universally with system size and coupling constant

Finite sampling affects the Jarzynski equality near critical points

Universal behavior inherited from critical scaling laws

Abstract

We examine the Jarzynski equality for a quenching process across the critical point of second-order phase transitions, where absolute irreversibility and the effect of finite-sampling of the initial equilibrium distribution arise on an equal footing. We consider the Ising model as a prototypical example for spontaneous symmetry breaking and take into account the finite sampling issue by introducing a tolerance parameter. For a given tolerance parameter, the deviation from the Jarzynski equality depends onthe reduced coupling constant and the system size. In this work, we show that the deviation from the Jarzynski equality exhibits a universal scaling behavior inherited from the critical scaling laws of second-order phase transitions.