Ordering in a one-dimensional driven diffusive system with parallel dynamics

Abstract We study a cellular automata version of a one-dimensional lattice-gas model in presence of an external field. This system obeys a generalized Kawasaki-like dynamics that conserves the number of particles but priviledges particles hopping in one direction. Although the clustering properties do not differ qualitatively from the ones of an equilibrium Ising chain, we observe in our model a sharp transition of the value of the stationary Hamming distance between two randomly chosen configurations submitted to the same thermal noise when varying the temperature or the external field. This transition between a so-callek ordered phase and a disordered one reflects the nonequilibrium aspect of the problem.