Non-equilibrium relaxations: ageing and finite-size effects

Abstract

The long-time behaviour of spin-spin correlators in the slow relaxation of systems undergoing phase-ordering kinetics is studied in geometries of finite size. A phenomenological finite-size scaling ansatz is formulated and tested through the exact solution of the kinetic spherical model, quenched to below the critical temperature, in 2< d < 4 dimensions.

Keywords

• phase transitions
• finite-size scaling
• dynamic critical phenomena
• ageing
• exactly solvable models