Calculation of spatially resolved energy dissipation in the critical-state model: supercooling and metastable states

Metastable states of vortex matter can be converted to stable phases through the fluctuation energy dissipated during isothermal field variations. The critical state model provides a calculation of the total energy dissipated in the sample during a field cycle through the area enclosed within the M-H loop. We present a formalism for calculating the spatial distribution of the energy dissipation, and show that it rises quadratically near the surface