Condensation hysteresis simulation

Is the Particle Life condensation transition first-order, or continuous?

▶ Run the simulationSee the measured result

How the lab tests it

Sweep the mean interaction μ up (the gas condenses) then back down (the condensate dissolves), reading the bound fraction on both branches.

What it looks for

a hysteresis loop — the condensate surviving below where it formed — vs the two branches overlapping; only a loop persisting at vanishing sweep rate would mean first-order, and the measured loop is real but substantially kinetic (it halves under an 8× slower sweep), so the order stays open