Kinetics of theQ-State Potts Model in Two Dimensions

An efficient Monte Carlo procedure is applied to the study of the kinetics of low-and high-$Q$-state Potts models quenched from an initial high-temperature ($T\gg T_c$) state to very low temperatures ($T\simeq 0$). After an initial transient period, the mean domain size, $R$, increases algebraically with time as $R\sim C{t}^n$. The exponent $n$ decreases from ½ for $Q=2\mathrm{}$ (Ising model) to 0.38 for large $Q$. The change in $n$ is attributed to a coalescence process which becomes increasingly effective with decreasing $Q$. For large $Q$, the prefactor $C$ is proportional to $Q^{\frac{1}{2}}$.