ICTS

The dynamics of coupled driven systems is often studied on the basis of a hydrodynamic theory of fluctuations around a homogeneous state. We ask: What happens if the couplings lead to instabilities, and fluctuations grow without bound? We analyse a simple lattice model of light and heavy particles on a fluctuating potential landscape, and find that the final state is phase separated. As couplings change, a rich phase diagram ensues, with interesting differences between both static and dynamic properties of the phases.