Phase ordering dynamics of reconstituting particles

Abstract

We consider the large-time dynamics of one-dimensional processes involving adsorption and desorption of extended hard-core particles (dimers, trimers,\,$\cdots,k$-mers), while interacting through their constituent monomers. Desorption can occur whether or not these latter adsorbed together, which leads to reconstitution of $k$-mers and the appearance of sectors of motion with nonlocal conservation laws for $k \ge 3$. Dynamic exponents of the sector including the empty chain are evaluated by finite-size scaling analyses of the relaxation times embodied in the spectral gaps of evolution operators. For attractive interactions it is found that in the low-temperature limit such time scales converge to those of the Glauber dynamics, thus suggesting a diffusive universality class for $k \ge 2$. This is also tested by simulated quenches down to $T=0$ where a common scaling function emerges. By contrast, under repulsive interactions the low-temperature dynamics is characterized by metastable states which decay subdiffusively to a highly degenerate and partially jammed phase.