Overshooting Effects in Nonequilibrium Ordering Dynamics

Using Monte Carlo simulation on the simplest possible statistical mechanical model, the two-dimensional, nonconserved kinetic Ising model that undergoes an order-disorder transition, we show that the local order of the ordering domains, subsequent to a temperature quench, transiently overshoots the value of the equilibrium order parameter.

It is argued that overshooting is a generic effect in ordering dynamics, independent of the detailed dynamics and the conservation laws in effect.