Phase coexistence far from equilibrium

Investigation of simple far-from-equilibrium systems exhibiting phase separation leads to the conclusion that phase coexistence is not well defined in this context. This is because the properties of the coexisting nonequilibrium systems depend on how they are placed in contact, as verified in the driven lattice gas with attractive interactions, and in the two-temperature lattice gas, under (a) weak global exchange between uniform systems, and (b) phase-separated (nonuniform) systems. Thus, far from equilibrium, the notions of universality of phase coexistence (i.e., independence of how systems exchange particles and/or energy), and of phases with intrinsic properties (independent of their environment) are lost.

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