First-order phase transition in a (1+1)-dimensional nonequilibrium wetting process

A model for nonequilibrium wetting in 1+1 dimensions is introduced. It comprises adsorption and desorption processes with a dynamics that generically does not obey detailed balance. Depending on the rates of the dynamical processes the wetting transition is either of first or second order. It is found that the wet (unbound) and the nonwet (pinned) states coexist and are both thermodynamically stable in a domain of the dynamical parameters that define the model. This is in contrast with equilibrium transitions where coexistence of thermodynamically stable states takes place only on the transition line.