Finite-time Scaling of the surface special transition in a 3D classical Heisenberg model

Abstract

We investigate nonequilibrium driven dynamics across the special surface phase transition in the three-dimensional classical Heisenberg model with open boundaries, where tuning the surface coupling gives access to an extraordinary-log boundary critical state characterized by logarithmic, rather than power-law, decay of correlations. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we realize four driving protocols: temperature heating and cooling across the special transition, and surface-coupling ramps from the ordinary and extraordinary-log critical states into the special point. For temperature-driven protocols, the surface order parameter obeys a generalization of the finite-time scaling (FTS) and the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. The central finding emerges when the system is driven from the extraordinary-log critical state: the large-rate scaling relation acquires a logarithmic correction and takes the novel form $M^{2}_{s}\propto R^{(1+η_{s})/r_{s}}[\log(LR^{1/η_{s}})]^{-q}$ , where $R$ is the driving rate, $L$ the system size, $η_{s}$ the surface anomalous dimension, $r_{s}$ the scaling dimension of $R$, and $q$ the exponent governing the logarithmic boundary criticality. We demonstrate that this form follows from the general FTS framework by incorporating the logarithmic initial-state memory, and we achieve excellent data collapse over a wide range of system sizes and driving rates. Our results establish that extraordinary-log initial states alter nonequilibrium critical scaling, extending boundary FTS beyond conventional power-law initial conditions.