Deep learning study of nonequilibrium phase transitions in ferromagnetic systems under effective interactions

Abstract

Phase transitions play a central role in statistical physics and are well understood in systems at thermal equilibrium. However, their nonequilibrium counterparts remain less explored because of the lack of a unified theoretical framework. In this study, we examine the potential of deep learning, specially convolutional neural networks (CNN), to detect nonequilibrium phase transitions (NEPT) in a 2D Ising model-like square lattice ferromagnetic system under effective parameter h. Without this parameter ( h=0), we generate equilibrium spin configurations using the standard Metropolis algorithm as usual. With h≠0, we generate nonequilibrium spin configurations using an effective Glauber update rule which breaks detailed balance. While the former is used to train CNN, the later is not subsequently described by the usual Boltzmann-Gibbs distribution rather used to test the model. The study shows that the trained CNN can distinguish between ordered and disordered nonequilibrium steady states and accurately predict the critical temperature of the system undergoing NEPT. Finite size scaling analysis of the model’s output (perdition) reproduces critical exponents that agree with theoretical expectations, indicating that this method provides a strong, data driven approach for examining nonequilibrium critical phenomena.