First-order transition in a particle deposition-evaporation model.

Abstract

We introduce a simple stochastic growth model where particles of two different species are deposited and evaporated. In the model, a randomly chosen particle of two species is deposited at a rate p and a particle on the edge of the plateau of the interface is evaporated at a rate 1-p. When p<p(c1)=0.4985(2) and p>p(c2)=0.5015(5), the velocity of the interface is zero. When p(c1)</=p</=p(c2), however, the interface grows with a constant velocity. At both p(c1) and p(c2), the velocity of the interface changes from zero to a constant value discontinuously. The first-order transitions in our model are related to a nonequilibrium phase transition from an active to an inactive phase at the bottom layer of the interface. Interestingly, the first-order transition at p(c1) is triggered by the combination of the parity conserving and the directed percolation dynamics. We explain why the transitions in our model are of first order. Moreover, our model shows two nonequilibrium roughening transitions at p(c1) as well as at p(r)[=0.444(2)].