Boltzmann Fluctuations in Numerical Simulations of Nonequilibrium Lattice Threshold Systems

Nonequilibrium threshold systems such as slider blocks are now used to model a variety of dynamical systems, including earthquake faults, driven neural networks, and sliding charge density waves. We show that for general mean field models driven at low rates fluctuations in the internal energy field are characterized by Boltzmann statistics. Numerical simulations confirm this prediction. Our results indicate that mean field models can be effectively treated as equilibrium systems.