TY - JOUR

T1 - Critical behavior in an atomistic model for a bistable surface reaction

T2 - CO oxidation with rapid CO diffusion

AU - Pavlenko, N.

AU - Imbihl, R.

AU - Evans, J. W.

AU - Liu, Da Jiang

PY - 2003/7/15

Y1 - 2003/7/15

N2 - We analyze critical behavior associated with the loss of bistability for an atomistic model for CO oxidation on surfaces in the limit of infinite diffusion of CO. The model includes infinite nearest-neighbor repulsions between adsorbed immobile O. We use a “hybrid” treatment incorporating a lattice-gas description of the O adlayer, but tracking just the number of adsorbed CO (which are randomly distributed on non-O sites). The critical exponents obtained from a finite-size-scaling analysis on [Formula presented] site surfaces with periodic boundary conditions show that the “hybrid” reaction model belongs to the mean-field universality class, despite strong spatial correlations in the O adlayer. We also quantify finite-size effects in the global bifurcation diagram, revealing a significant shift of the bistable region with decreasing system size. Our study elucidates fluctuation effects observed in experiments of CO oxidation on the nanoscale facets of metal-field emitter tips.

AB - We analyze critical behavior associated with the loss of bistability for an atomistic model for CO oxidation on surfaces in the limit of infinite diffusion of CO. The model includes infinite nearest-neighbor repulsions between adsorbed immobile O. We use a “hybrid” treatment incorporating a lattice-gas description of the O adlayer, but tracking just the number of adsorbed CO (which are randomly distributed on non-O sites). The critical exponents obtained from a finite-size-scaling analysis on [Formula presented] site surfaces with periodic boundary conditions show that the “hybrid” reaction model belongs to the mean-field universality class, despite strong spatial correlations in the O adlayer. We also quantify finite-size effects in the global bifurcation diagram, revealing a significant shift of the bistable region with decreasing system size. Our study elucidates fluctuation effects observed in experiments of CO oxidation on the nanoscale facets of metal-field emitter tips.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85035238700&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevE.68.016212

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevE.68.016212

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85035238700

VL - 68

SP - 8

JO - Physical Review E - Statistical Physics, Plasmas, Fluids, and Related Interdisciplinary Topics

JF - Physical Review E - Statistical Physics, Plasmas, Fluids, and Related Interdisciplinary Topics

SN - 1063-651X

IS - 1

ER -