The Spectral Gap for the Kawasaki Dynamics at Low Temperature

In this paper we analyze the convergence to equilibrium of Kawasaki dynamics for the Ising model in the phase coexistence region. First we show, in strict analogy with the nonconservative case, that in any lattice dimension, for any boundary condition and any positive temperature and particle density, the spectral gap in a box of side L does not shrink faster than a negative exponential of the surface L ^d–1. Then we prove that, in two dimensions and for free boundary condition, the spectral gap in a box of side L is smaller than a negative exponential of L provided that the temperature is below the critical one and the particle density satisfies (*_–, *₊), where *_± represents the particle density of the plus and minus phase, respectively.