# Multinucleation in the first-order phase transition of the 2d Potts model

## TL;DR

This study uses large-scale simulations to analyze the nucleation and coarsening dynamics of the 2d q-Potts model after a shallow quench, revealing multi-nucleation as a key relaxation mechanism near the phase transition.

## Contribution

It provides new insights into the kinetics of first-order phase transitions in the 2d q-Potts model through detailed numerical simulations.

## Key findings

- Multi-nucleation drives the relaxation process.
- Coarsening occurs via competition between ground states.
- Dynamics depend on the number of states and quench temperature.

## Abstract

Using large-scale numerical simulations we studied the kinetics of the 2d q-Potts model for q > 4 after a shallow subcritical quench from a high-temperature homogeneous configuration. This protocol drives the system across a first-order phase transition. The initial state is metastable after the quench and, for final temperatures close to the critical one, the system escapes from it via a multi-nucleation process. The ensuing relaxation towards equilibrium proceeds through coarsening with competition between the equivalent ground states. This process has been analyzed for different choices of the parameters such as the number of states and the final quench temperature.