Systems with two symmetric absorbing states: Relating the microscopic dynamics with the macroscopic behavior

FEDERICO VAZQUEZ; CRISTÓBAL LÓPEZ

PHYSICAL REVIEW E - STATISTICAL PHYSICS, PLASMAS, FLUIDS AND RELATED INTERDISCIPLINARY TOPICS

The American Physical Society

Año: 2008 vol. 78 p. 61127 - 61127

1063-651X

We propose a general approach to study spin models with two symmetric absorbing states. Starting from the microscopic dynamics on a square lattice, we derive a Langevin equation for the time evolution of the magnetization field, that successfully explains coarsening properties of a wide range of nonlinear voter models and systems with intermediate states. We find that the macroscopic behavior only depends on the first derivatives of the spin-flip probabilities. Moreover, an analysis of the mean-field term reveals the three types of transitions commonly observed in these systems?generalized voter, Ising and directed percolation. Monte Carlo simulations of the spin dynamics qualitatively agree with theoretical predictions.