Hysteresis in one-dimensional reaction-diffusion systems

TL;DR

This paper presents a one-dimensional nonequilibrium reaction-diffusion model exhibiting ergodicity breaking and hysteresis, explained via shock dynamics in an effective potential, providing an exact phase diagram and a new mechanism for 'freezing by heating'.

Contribution

It introduces a simple nonequilibrium model with hysteresis and ergodicity breaking, and offers an exact phase diagram through a shock-based single-particle analogy.

Findings

Demonstrates ergodicity breaking and hysteresis in 1D systems

Provides an exact phase diagram for the model

Suggests a new mechanism for 'freezing by heating'

Abstract

We introduce a simple nonequilibrium model for a driven diffusive system with nonconservative reaction kinetics which exhibits ergodicity breaking and hysteresis in one dimension. These phenomena can be understood through a description of the dominant stochastic many-body dynamics in terms of an equilibrium single-particle problem, viz. the random motion of a shock in an effective potential. This picture also leads to the exact phase diagram of the system and suggests a new generic mechanism for "freezing by heating".