First order phase transition in a 1+1-dimensional nonequilibrium wetting process

Haye Hinrichsen, Roberto Livi, David Mukamel, Antonio Politi

Published 1999-06-03, updated 1999-08-09Version 2

A model for nonequilibrium wetting in 1+1 dimensions is introduced. It comprises adsorption and desorption processes with a dynamics which generically does not obey detailed balance. Depending on the rates of the dynamical processes the wetting transition is either of first or second order. It is found that the wet (unbound) and the non-wet (pinned) states coexist and are both thermodynamically stable in a domain of the dynamical parameters which define the model. This is in contrast with equilibrium transitions where coexistence of thermodynamically stable states takes place only on the transition line.