In this chapter we give a brief review of one-dimensional (1D) kinetic Ising models that display nonequilibrium steady states. We describe how to construct such models, how to map them onto models of particle and surface dynamics, and how to derive and solve (in some cases) the equations of motion for the correlation functions. In the discussion of particular models, we focus on various problems characteristically occurring in studies of nonequilibrium systems such as the existence of phase transitions in 1D, the presence or absence of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, and the derivation of the Langevin equations for mesoscopic degrees of freedom.

Introduction

The Ising model is a static, equilibrium, model. Its dynamical generalization was first considered by Glauber who introduced the single-spin-flip kinetic Ising model for describing relaxation towards equilibrium. Kawasaki then constructed a spin-exchange version of spin dynamics with the aim of studying such relaxational processes in the presence of conservation of magnetization. Other conservation laws were introduced soon afterwards by Kadanoff and Swift and thus the industry of kinetic Ising models wTas born.

The value of these models became apparent towards the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s when ideas of universality in static and dynamic critical phenomena emerged. Kinetic Ising models were simple enough to allow extensive analytical (series-expansion) and numerical (Monte Carlo) work, which was instrumental in determining critical exponents and checking universality.