Dynamic scaling of order parameter fluctuations in model B

Abstract

We describe numerical simulations of the stochastic diffusion equation with a conserved charge. We focus on the dynamics in the vicinity of a critical point in the Ising universality class. The model we consider is expected to describe the critical dynamics near a possible QCD critical point if the coupling of the order parameter to the momentum density of the fluid can be neglected. The simulations are performed on a spatial lattice, and the time evolution is performed using a Metropolis algorithm. We determine the dynamical critical exponent $z\simeq 3.972(2)$, which agrees with predictions of the epsilon expansion. We also study non-equilibrium sweeps of the reduced temperature and observe approximate Kibble-Zurek scaling.

Comments: 19 pages, 9 figures. Version published in PRD