Noisy zigzag transition, fluctuations, and thermal bifurcation threshold

作者:Delfau Jean Baptiste*; Coste Christophe; Saint Jean Michel
来源:Physical Review E, 2013, 87(6): 062135.
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevE.87.062135

摘要

We study the zigzag transition in a system of particles with screened electrostatic interaction, submitted to a thermal noise. At finite temperature, this configurational phase transition is an example of noisy supercritical pitchfork bifurcation. The measurements of transverse fluctuations allow a complete description of the bifurcation region, which takes place between the deterministic threshold and a thermal threshold beyond which thermal fluctuations do not allow the system to flip between the symmetric zigzag configurations. We show that a divergence of the saturation time for the transverse fluctuations allows a precise and unambiguous definition of this thermal threshold. Its evolution with the temperature is shown to be in good agreement with theoretical predictions from noisy bifurcation theory.

  • 出版日期2013-6-25