SearcharxivSearch

arXiv · 2602.02946

Violation of local equilibrium thermodynamics in one-dimensional Hamiltonian-Potts model

Abstract

We investigate nonequilibrium phase coexistence associated with a first-order phase transition by numerically studying a one-dimensional Hamiltonian-Potts model with fractional spatial derivatives. The fractional derivative is introduced so as to reproduce the low-wave-number density of states of the standard two-dimensional model, allowing phase coexistence to occur in a minimal one-dimensional setting under steady heat conduction. By imposing a constant heat flux through boundary heat baths, we observe the stable coexistence of ordered and disordered phases separated by a stationary interface. We find that the temperature at the interface systematically deviates from the equilibrium transition temperature, demonstrating a clear violation of the local equilibrium description. This deviation indicates that equilibrium metastable states can be stabilized and controlled by a steady heat current. Furthermore, the interface temperature obtained in our simulations is in quantitative agreement with the prediction of global thermodynamics for nonequilibrium steady states. These results confirm that the breakdown of local equilibrium and the stabilization of metastable states are intrinsic features of nonequilibrium first-order phase transitions, independent of spatial dimensionality. Our study thus provides a minimal and controlled numerical model for exploring the fundamental limits of thermodynamic descriptions in nonequilibrium steady states.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

Hitomi Endo, Michikazu Kobayashi. 2026-02-03. Violation of local equilibrium thermodynamics in one-dimensional Hamiltonian-Potts model. https://doi.org/10.1103/rz4l-krv6

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Universal sampling of spin systems across quenched disorder

Statistical physics extracts macroscopic laws by averaging over the many microscopic degrees of freedom of a system. Disordered systems demand a second and far harder average, one over the quenched randomness itself. The classic analytical routes, the replica and cavity methods, become uncontrolled outside mean-field or tree-like limits, and conventional numerical algorithms like parallel tempering require expensive, independent equilibration for every disorder realization. In this work, we introduce a universal neural variational framework that amortizes inference across the disorder ensemble, eliminating both the need for per-instance Markov chain equilibration and the cost of retraining instance-specific variational ansatzes. Built on an encoder-decoder Transformer architecture, after training once, it produces an explicit approximation to the Boltzmann distribution given previously unseen disorder realizations without further optimization. We validate this framework on 2D Edwards-Anderson models, and apply it to the random-bond Ising model, successfully capturing the Binder cumulant crossings near the Nishimori multicritical point. These results shift the object of variational inference from the single instance to the disorder ensemble, opening a route to frustrated many-body systems where instance-by-instance computation is prohibitive.

cond-mat.stat-mech

Information-Theoretic Characterization of Macroscopic Chaos Emerging from the Chemical Master Equation

Open chemical reaction networks exhibit stochastic concentration dynamics at finite system sizes, whereas their macroscopic limit is governed by deterministic rate equations that can display chaos. In this Letter, we show theoretically that a rate of information loss constructed from two-time mutual information recovers the Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy in the deterministic limit. We verify this result through numerical simulations of a Markov jump process for a three-species system involving seven reactions.

cond-mat.stat-mech

Orientational order on non-orientable domains

We study the statistical properties of passive and active many-body systems with orientational degrees of freedom on non-orientable domains. By rephrasing topological constraints as non-local symmetry relations on an orientable double-cover, we show that non-orientability eliminates global rotational soft modes without acting like an external field. In a passive XY model, this results in topological caging, where orientational fluctuations that exhibit conventional diffusive behavior on a torus saturate on a Klein bottle to a finite value that we compute exactly in the thermodynamic limit. In models of active self-propelled particles with orientational degrees of freedom, topological caging persists despite continuously changing interaction neighborhoods. In an active Ising spin model, non-orientability enforces the coexistence of ordered anti-parallel domains with vanishing global polar order, a state that is absent on orientable domains.

cond-mat.stat-mech