First-order microcanonical transitions in finite mean-field models

TL;DR

This paper investigates first-order microcanonical phase transitions in finite mean-field models, highlighting temperature discontinuities, negative specific heat, and the role of finite-size fluctuations in metastable state relaxation.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of microcanonical first-order transitions, including thermodynamic and dynamical perspectives, and demonstrates the exponential divergence of escape times with system size.

Findings

Microcanonical first-order transition shows temperature discontinuity.

Negative specific heat can occur in the microcanonical ensemble.

Escape times from metastable states grow exponentially with N.

Abstract

A microcanonical first order transition, connecting a clustered to a homogeneous phase, is studied from both the thermodynamic and dynamical point of view for a N-body Hamiltonian system with infinite-range couplings. In the microcanonical ensemble specific heat can be negative, but besides that, a microcanonical first order transition displays a temperature discontinuity as the energy is varied continuously (a dual phenomenon to the latent heat in the canonical ensemble). In the transition region, the entropy per particle exhibits, as a function of the order parameter, two relative maxima separated by a minimum. The relaxation of the metastable state is shown to be ruled by an activation process induced by intrinsic finite N fluctuations. In particular, numerical evidences are given that the escape time diverges exponentially with N, with a growth rate given by the entropy barrier.