Nucleation times in the 2D Ising model

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical method to estimate nucleation times in systems with Brownian dynamics and applies it to the 2D Ising model, showing good agreement with simulations without free parameters.

Contribution

It introduces a parameter-free theoretical framework for predicting nucleation times, validated against extensive simulation data in the 2D Ising model.

Findings

Theoretical predictions agree with simulations within 20%.

Nucleation times span over four orders of magnitude.

All necessary system properties are obtained from equilibrium simulations.

Abstract

A theoretical framework is presented for the estimation of nucleation times in systems with Brownian type dynamics. This framework is applied to a prototype system: the two-dimensional Ising model with spin-flip dynamics in an external magnetic field. Direct simulation results for the nucleation times, spanning more than four orders of magnitude, are compared with theoretical predictions. There are no free parameters; all system properties required by the theory are determined by simulations in equilibrium systems. Theoretical and simulation values are found to agree in most cases within 20%.