Heat exchanges in coarsening systems

Abstract

This paper is a contribution to the understanding of the thermal properties of ageing systems where statistically independent degrees of freedom with greatly separated time scales are expected to coexist. Focusing on the prototypical case of quenched ferromagnets, where fast and slow modes can be respectively associated with fluctuations in the bulk of the coarsening domains and in their interfaces, we perform a set of numerical experiments specifically designed to compute the heat exchanges between different degrees of freedom. Our studies promote a scenario with fast modes acting as an equilibrium reservoir to which interfaces may release heat through a mechanism that allows fast and slow degrees to maintain their statistical properties independently.