Order-disorder transition in a model with two symmetric absorbing states

Abstract

We study a model of two-dimensional interacting monomers which has two symmetric absorbing states and exhibits two kinds of phase transition; one is an order-disorder transition and the other is an absorbing phase transition. Our focus is around the order-disorder transition, and we investigate whether this transition is described by the critical exponents of the two-dimensional Ising model. By analyzing the relaxation dynamics of "staggered magnetization," the finite-size scaling, and the behavior of the magnetization in the presence of a symmetry-breaking field, we show that this model should belong to the Ising universality class. Our results along with the universality hypothesis support the idea that the order-disorder transition in two-dimensional models with two symmetric absorbing states is of the Ising universality class, contrary to the recent claim [K. Nam et al., J. Stat. Mech.: Theory Exp. (2011) L06001]. Furthermore, we illustrate that the Binder cumulant could be a misleading guide to the critical point in these systems.