Infinitely-many absorbing-state nonequilibrium phase transitions

TL;DR

This paper introduces a field-theoretic approach to analyze infinite families of nonequilibrium phase transitions involving multiple absorbing states, focusing on the role of auxiliary fields in different conservation scenarios.

Contribution

It develops a unified framework for studying continuous phase transitions with infinitely many absorbing states, considering various auxiliary field dynamics.

Findings

Classifies three types of auxiliary field behaviors in these transitions.

Provides a theoretical strategy applicable to diverse nonequilibrium systems.

Highlights the importance of auxiliary field properties in transition analysis.

Abstract

We present a general field-theoretic strategy to analyze three connected families of continuous phase transitions which occur in nonequilibrium steady-states. We focus on transitions taking place between an active state and one absorbing state, when there exist an infinite number of such absorbing states. In such transitions the order parameter is coupled to an auxiliary field. Three situations arise according to whether the auxiliary field is diffusive and conserved, static and conserved, or finally static and not conserved.