97-366 Cirillo E.N.M., Lebowitz J.L.

Metastability in the two-dimensional Ising model with free boundary conditions (117K, uuencoded and gzipped PostScript file) Jun 21, 97

Abstract , Paper (src), View paper (auto. generated ps), Index of related papers

Abstract. We investigate metastability in the two dimensional Ising model in a square with free boundary conditions at low temperatures. Starting with all spins down in a small positive magnetic field, we show that the exit from this metastable phase occurs via the nucleation of a critical droplet in one of the four corners of the system. We compute the lifetime of the metastable phase analytically in the limit $T\to 0$, $h\to 0$ and via Monte Carlo simulations at fixed values of $T$ and $h$ and find good agreement. This system models the effects of boundary domains in magnetic storage systems exiting from a metastable phase when a small external field is applied.

Files: 97-366.src( desc , 97-366.uu )