Eur. Phys. J. B 81, 155-163 (2011)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2011-20085-2

Nonequilibrium wetting transition in a nonthermal 2D Ising model

¹ VITO, Flemish Institute for Technological Research, 2400 Mol, Belgium
² Department WNI, Hasselt University, 3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium
³ Institute for Theoretical Physics, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium

Corresponding author: ^a jef.hooyberghs@vito.be

Received: 1 February 2011
Published online: 11 May 2011

Abstract

Nonequilibrium wetting transitions are observed in Monte Carlo simulations of a kinetic spin system in the absence of a detailed balance condition with respect to an energy functional. A nonthermal model is proposed starting from a two-dimensional Ising spin lattice at zero temperature with two boundaries subject to opposing surface fields. Local spin excitations are only allowed by absorbing an energy quantum (photon) below a cutoff energy E_c. Local spin relaxation takes place by emitting a photon which leaves the lattice. Using Monte Carlo simulation nonequilibrium critical wetting transitions are observed as well as nonequilibrium first-order wetting phenomena, respectively in the absence or presence of absorbing states of the spin system. The transitions are identified from the behavior of the probability distribution of a suitably chosen order parameter that was proven useful for studying wetting in the (thermal) Ising model.