Is the particle current a relevant feature in driven lattice gases? art. no. 195702

By performing extensive Monte Carlo simulations we show that the infinitely fast driven lattice gas (IDLG) shares its critical properties with the ran domly driven lattice gas (RDLG). All the measured exponents, scaling functi ons, and amplitudes are the same in both cases. This strongly supports the idea that the main relevant nonequilibrium effect in driven lattice gases i s the anisotropy (present in both IDLG and RDLG) and not the particle curre nt (present only in the IDLG). This result, at odds with the predictions fr om the standard theory for the IDLG, supports a recently proposed alternati ve theory. The case of finite driving fields is also briefly discussed.