Phase Transitions in a Driven Lattice Gas with Anisotropic Interactions

Abstract

The Ising lattice gas, with its well known equilibrium properties, displays a number of surprising phenomena when driven into non-equilibrium steady states. We study such a model with anisotropic interparticle interactions ($J_{\Vert }\neq J_{\bot}$), using both Monte Carlo simulations and high temperature series techniques. Under saturation drive, the shift in the transition temperature can be both positive and negative, depending on the ratio $J_{\Vert }/J_{\bot}$! For finite drives, both first and second order transitions are observed. Some aspects of the phase diagram can be predicted by investigating the two point correlation function at the first non-trivial order of a high temperature series expansion.