  We examine the Jarzynski equality for a quenching process across the critical
point of second-order phase transitions, where absolute irreversibility and the
effect of finite-sampling of the initial equilibrium distribution arise on an
equal footing. We consider the Ising model as a prototypical example for
spontaneous symmetry breaking and take into account the finite sampling issue
by introducing a tolerance parameter. For a given tolerance parameter, the
deviation from the Jarzynski equality depends onthe reduced coupling constant
and the system size. In this work, we show that the deviation from the
Jarzynski equality exhibits a universal scaling behavior inherited from the
critical scaling laws of second-order phase transitions.
