Interacting Non-equilibrium Systems with Two Temperatures

We investigate a simplified model of two fully connected magnetic systems maintained at different temperatures by virtue of being connected to two independent thermal baths while simultaneously being inter-connected with each other. Using generating functional analysis, commonly used in statistical mechanics, we find exactly soluble expressions for their individual magnetisations that define a two-dimensional non-linear map, the equations of which have the same form as those obtained for densely connected equilibrium systems. Steady states correspond to the fixed points of this map, separating the parameter space into a rich set of non-equilibrium phases that we analyse in asymptotically high and low (non-equilibrium) temperature limits. The theoretical formalism is shown to subvert to the classical non-equilibrium steady state problem for two interacting systems with a non-zero heat transfer between them that catalyses a phase transition between ambient non-equilibrium states.