Computation of nucleation at a nonequilibrium first-order phase transition using a rare-event algorithm

Abstract

We introduce a new forward flux sampling in time algorithm to efficiently measure transition times in rare-event processes in nonequilibrium systems and apply it to study the first-order (discontinuous) kinetic transition in the Ziff-Gulari-Barshad model of catalytic surface reaction. The average time for the transition to take place, as well as both the spinodal and transition points, is efficiently found by this method.