Control of Metastable States by Heat Flux in the Hamiltonian Potts Model

TL;DR

This study investigates how heat flux influences metastable states in a 2D Hamiltonian Potts model, revealing deviations from equilibrium temperatures and stabilization of metastable states under non-equilibrium conditions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that heat flux can stabilize metastable states in the Hamiltonian Potts model, challenging the assumption of local equilibrium thermodynamics in out-of-equilibrium systems.

Findings

Temperature of interface deviates from equilibrium transition temperature.

Metastable states are stabilized by heat flux.

Deviation follows a proposed extended thermodynamics formula.

Abstract

The local equilibrium thermodynamics is a basic assumption of macroscopic descriptions of the out of equilibrium dynamics for Hamiltonian systems. We numerically analyze the Hamiltonian Potts model in two dimensions to study the violation of the assumption for phase coexistence in heat conduction. We observe that the temperature of the interface between ordered and disordered states deviates from the equilibrium transition temperature, indicating that metastable states at equilibrium are stabilized by the influence of a heat flux. We also find that the deviation is described by the formula proposed in an extended framework of the thermodynamics.