The spectral gap for the Kawasaki dynamics at low temperature (Q1308028)

The authors study convergence to equilibrium of conservative Kawasaki dynamics for the Ising model and obtain certain estimates on the speed of relaxation. The first result is the uniform lower bound on the spectral gap of the corresponding generator: let \(\beta>0\) be fixed; then for any \(d\geq 2\) there exists a constant \(\alpha_1>0\) depending only on the inverse temperature \(\beta\) such that for all sufficiently large \(L\) the spectral gap of the generator of the Kawasaki dynamics in the \(d\)-dimensional cube of linear size \(L\) is bounded below (for any boundary condition and any fixed particle density) by \(\exp\bigl\{-\alpha_1L^{d-1}\bigr\}\). This result is analogous to a similar estimate in the non-conservative case obtained earlier by \textit{F. Cesi, C. Maes} and \textit{F. Martinelli} [Commun. Math. Phys. 188, No. 1, 135-173 (1997; Zbl 0882.60095)]. The second main result of the paper is an upper bound on the spectral gap of the Kawasaki dynamics in two dimensions: fix \(d=2\), \(\beta>\beta_c\), \(m\in (-m^*(\beta),m^*(\beta))\) with \(m^*(\beta)\) denoting the spontaneous magnetization and consider the Kawasaki dynamics in the square box \(L\times L\) with free boundary conditions and the particle density determined by the value of \(m\); then there exists \(\alpha_2(\beta,m)>0\) such that for all \(L\) large enough the spectral gap of the corresponding generator is bounded above by \(\exp\bigl\{-\alpha_2L\bigr\}\). The proof of the first result is based on a recursive inequality relating the spectral gaps of the generator in cubes of linear size \(L\) and \(2L\). The latter is proved applying certain doubling of the box procedure close in spirit to the approach used by \textit{H.-T. Yau} [ibid. 181, No. 2, 367-408 (1996; Zbl 0864.60079)] in the one phase region under certain mixing conditions. At \(\beta=0\), the authors recover a particular case of the result by \textit{S. L. Lu} and \textit{H.-T. Yau} [ibid. 156, No. 2, 399-433 (1993; Zbl 0779.60078)] about the \(L^{-2}\) scaling of the spectral gap. The upper bound follows from a specific choice of a test function that is related to an equilibrium ``bottleneck'' event. Due to this choice, the authors are forced to develop an analog of the low-temperature Wulff construction theory by \textit{R. Dobrushin, R. Kotecký} and \textit{S. Shlosman} [``Wulff construction. A global shape from local interaction'' (1992; Zbl 0917.60103)]; see also \textit{C.-E. Pfister} [Helv. Phys. Acta 64, No. 7, 953-1054 (1991)] for the free boundary conditions. The arguments are similar to those by \textit{C.-E. Pfister} and \textit{Y. Velenik} [Probab. Theory Relat. Fields 109, No. 4, 435-506 (1997; Zbl 0904.60022)] and \textit{D. Ioffe} and \textit{R. H. Schonmann} [Commun. Math. Phys. 199, No. 1, 117-167 (1998; Zbl 0929.60076)], however, many proofs have to be adapted to the particular situation at hand. The obtained bounds are not optimal.