A model for damage spreading with damage healing: Monte Carlo study of the two-dimensional Ising ferromagnet

An Ising model for damage spreading with a probability of damage healing (q=1-p) is proposed and studied by means of Monte Carlo simulations. In the limit p→1, the new model is mapped to the standard Ising model. It is found that, for temperatures above the Onsager critical temperature (TC), there exists a no trivial finite value of p that sets the critical point (pc) for the onset of damage spreading. It is found that pc depends on T, defining a critical curve at the border between damage spreading and damage healing. Transitions along such curve are found to belong to the universality class of directed percolation. The phase diagram of the model is also evaluated showing that for large T one has pc∝(T-TC)α, with α=1. Within the phase where the damage remains active, the stationary value of the damage depends lineally on both p-pc and T-TC.