STUDY OF THE CROSSOVER FROM NON-EQUILIBRIUM STATIONARY STATES TO QUASI-EQUILIBRIUM STATES IN A DRIVEN DIFFUSIVE SYSTEM UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF AN OSCILLATORY FIELD

Abstract

A driven diffusive system (DDS) is a lattice-gas in contact with a thermal bath in the presence of an external field. Such DDS constantly gains (losses) energy from (to) the driving field (thermal bath) and therefore, for long enough time, it reaches a non-equilibrium steady-state (NESS) with a generally unknown statistical distribution. It is found that if the constant driving is replaced by an oscillatory field of magnitude E and period τ, the system exhibits a crossover from NESS to a quasi-equilibrium state (QES) driven by τ. The crossover behavior is characterized by a typical crossover time which is proportional to the lattice side and consequently relevant to confined systems.