Short-Time Critical Dynamics of Damage Spreading in the Two-Dimensional Ising Model

Abstract

The short-time critical dynamics of propagation of damage in the Ising ferromagnet in two dimensions is studied by means of Monte Carlo simulations. Starting with equilibrium configurations at $T= \infty$ and magnetization $M=0$, an initial damage is created by flipping a small amount of spins in one of the two replicas studied. In this way, the initial damage is proportional to the initial magnetization $M_0$ in one of the configurations upon quenching the system at $T_C$, the Onsager critical temperature of the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition. It is found that, at short times, the damage increases with an exponent $θ_D=1.915(3)$, which is much larger than the exponent $θ=0.197$ characteristic of the initial increase of the magnetization $M(t)$. Also, an epidemic study was performed. It is found that the average distance from the origin of the epidemic ($\langle R^2(t)\rangle$) grows with an exponent $z^* \approx η\approx 1.9$, which is the same, within error bars, as the exponent $θ_D$. However, the survival probability of the epidemics reaches a plateau so that $δ=0$. On the other hand, by quenching the system to lower temperatures one observes the critical spreading of the damage at $T_{D}\simeq 0.51 T_C$, where all the measured observables exhibit power laws with exponents $θ_D = 1.026(3)$, $δ= 0.133(1)$, and $z^*=1.74(3)$.