Pietro Coletti - Universit&agrave; di Roma <i>Roma Tre</i> #
Out of equilibrium properties of the Potts Model #
The Potts model is a generalization of the Ising model, with q possible 
states for every
lattice site. Whereas for q<5 the system has a second order transition as 
the Ising model, for
q &ge; 5 the Potts model exhibits a first order phase transition. 
Moreover, 
the system has q
degenerate ground state to collapse in, and the competition between these 
ground states can
inhibit the condensation into a single phase.
We study the out of equilibrium properties of the Potts model. We show 
some preliminary
results of numerical simulation on a square lattice regarding how the 
system evolves after a
quench to a subcritical temperature. A special focus is on the domain 
growth law, whose
characteristics are analyzed as a function of the initial correlation 
length (finite vs infinite)
and whose early stage presents peculiar behaviour. The Ising case (q=2) is 
shown for
comparison and used as a starting point for the analysis.