Metastability and analyticity in a dropletlike model (Q1073458)

We consider an urn model closely related to the Fisher-Felderhof droplet model for the purpose of studying the relation between metastability and analytic continuation. For this model both the statics and dynamics can be solved and we confirm the relation between the metastable decay rate and the imaginary part of the analytically continued free energy (actually, pressure, in this model). We also find that eigenvalue degeneracy, an old theme for static aspects of phase transitions, appears in the dynamics as well. When approaching the phase transition from the stable side it is a degeneracy in the eigenvalues of the linear operator appearing in the master equation that causes the system to lock into a particular phase.