Picozzi Antonio, Haelterman Marc
CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, Nice, France.
Phys Rev Lett. 2004 Mar 12;92(10):103901. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.103901. Epub 2004 Mar 11.
In the generic Hamiltonian problem of parametric wave interaction, we show theoretically the existence of a sudden transition leading the wave system from completely incoherent states towards highly coherent states. This self-organization process is characterized by a reduction of the nonequilibrium entropy, in contrast with the H theorem of entropy growth inherent to the random phase approximation approach. The mechanism underlying this intriguing condensation process is in essence a reversible nonlinear damping. As a result, the lower the coherence of the initial state, the higher the coherence of the final state.