Universality of the off-equilibrium response function in the kinetic Ising chain

Abstract

The off-equilibrium response function $χ(t,t_w)$ and autocorrelation function $C(t,t_w)$ of an Ising chain with spin-exchange dynamics are studied numerically and compared with the same quantities in the case of spin-flip dynamics. It is found that, even though these quantities are separately different in the two cases, the parametric plot of $χ(t,t_w)$ versus $C(t,t_w)$ is the same. While this result could be expected in higher dimensionality, where $χ(C)$ is related to the equilibrium state, it is far from trivial in the one dimensional case where this relation does not hold. The origin of the universality of $χ(C)$ is traced back to the optimization of domains position with respect to the perturbing external field. This mechanism is investigated resorting to models with a single domain moving in a random environment.

24 pages, 7 figures