No abstract

We study stochastic particle systems with stationary product measures that exhibit a condensation transition due to particle interactions or spatial inhomogeneities. We review previous work on the stationary behaviour and put it in the context of the equivalence of ensembles, providing a general characterization of the condensation transition for homogeneous and inhomogeneous systems in the thermodynamic limit. This leads to strengthened results on weak convergence for subcritical systems, and establishes the equivalence of ensembles for spatially inhomogeneous systems under very general conditions, extending previous results which focused on attractive and finite systems. We use relative entropy techniques which provide simple proofs, making use of general versions of local limit theorems for independent random variables. This paper is dedicated to Herbert Spohn in honour of his 65th birthday.

We study condensation in several particle systems related to the inclusion process. For an asymmetric one-dimensional version with closed boundary conditions and drift to the right, we show that all but a finite number of particles condense on the right-most site. This is extended to a general result for independent random variables with different tails, where condensation occurs for the index (site) with the heaviest tail, generalizing also previous results for zero-range processes. For inclusion processes with homogeneous stationary measures we establish condensation in the limit of vanishing diffusion strength in the dynamics, and give several details about how the limit is approached for finite and infinite systems. Finally, we consider a continuous model dual to the inclusion process, the so-called Brownian energy process, and prove similar condensation results.

Zero-range condensation at criticality. Abstract Zero-range processes with decreasing jump rates exhibit a condensation transition, where a positive fraction of all particles condenses on a single lattice site when the total density exceeds a critical value. We study the onset of condensation, i.e. the behaviour of the maximum occupation number after adding or subtracting a subextensive excess mass of particles at the critical density. We establish a law of large numbers for the excess mass fraction in the maximum, which turns out to jump from zero to a positive value at a critical scale. Our results also include distributional limits for the fluctuations of the maximum, which change from standard extreme value statistics to Gaussian when the density crosses the critical point. Fluctuations in the bulk are also covered, showing that the mass outside the maximum is distributed homogeneously. In summary, we identify the detailed behaviour at the critical scale including sub-leading terms, which provides a full understanding of the crossover from sub-to supercritical behaviour.