Disorder-driven phase transition in a spring-block type magnetization model

The critical behavior of a one-dimensional Burridge-Knopoff type spring-block model, aimed to describe magnetization phenomena, is studied by Monte Carlo type computer simulations. Disorder is introduced through randomly distributed pinning centers and the magnetization process is modeled through a relaxation dynamics. The distribution of avalanche sizes (jumps in magnetization) is studied for different disorder values. The results indicate that the model exhibits a disorder-driven phase transition. Estimates for some critical exponents and scaling laws are given. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.