No Arabic abstract
We study numerically the roughening properties of an interface in a two-dimensional Ising model with either random bonds or random fields, which are representative of universality classes where disorder acts only on the interface or also away from it, in the bulk. The dynamical structure factor shows a rich crossover pattern from the form of a pure system at large wavevectors $k$, to a different behavior, typical of the kind of disorder, at smaller $k$s. For the random field model a second crossover is observed from the typical behavior of a system where disorder is only effective on the surface, as the random bond model, to the truly large scale behavior, where bulk-disorder is important, that is observed at the smallest wavevectors.
We study the phenomenon of super-roughening found on surfaces growing on disordered substrates. We consider a one-dimensional version of the problem for which the pure, ordered model exhibits a roughening phase transition. Extensive numerical simulations combined with analytical approximations indicate that super-roughening is a regime of asymptotically flat surfaces with non-trivial, rough short-scale features arising from the competition between surface tension and disorder. Based on this evidence and on previous simulations of the two-dimensional Random sine-Gordon model [Sanchez et al., Phys. Rev. E 62, 3219 (2000)], we argue that this scenario is general and explains equally well the hitherto poorly understood two-dimensional case.
Interface free energy is the contribution to the free energy of a system due to the presence of an interface separating two coexisting phases at equilibrium. It is also called surface tension. The content of the paper is 1) the definition of the interface free energy from first principles of statistical mechanics; 2) a detailed exposition of its basic properties. We consider lattice models with short range interactions, like the Ising model. A nice feature of lattice models is that the interface free energy is anisotropic so that some results are pertinent to the case of a crystal in equilibrium with its vapor. The results of section 2 hold in full generality.
We study the equilibrium properties of an Ising model on a disordered random network where the disorder can be quenched or annealed. The network consists of four-fold coordinated sites connected via variable length one-dimensional chains. Our emphasis is on nonuniversal properties and we consider the transition temperature and other equilibrium thermodynamic properties, including those associated with one dimensional fluctuations arising from the chains. We use analytic methods in the annealed case, and a Monte Carlo simulation for the quenched disorder. Our objective is to study the difference between quenched and annealed results with a broad random distribution of interaction parameters. The former represents a situation where the time scale associated with the randomness is very long and the corresponding degrees of freedom can be viewed as frozen, while the annealed case models the situation where this is not so. We find that the transition temperature and the entropy associated with one dimensional fluctuations are always higher for quenched disorder than in the annealed case. These differences increase with the strength of the disorder up to a saturating value. We discuss our results in connection to physical systems where a broad distribution of interaction strengths is present.
We show that time dependent couplings may lead to nontrivial scaling properties of the surface fluctuations of the asymptotic regime in non-equilibrium kinetic roughening models . Three typical situations are studied. In the case of a crossover between two different rough regimes, the time-dependent coupling may result in anomalous scaling for scales above the crossover length. In a different setting, for a crossover from a rough to either a flat or damping regime, the time dependent crossover length may conspire to produce a rough surface, despite the most relevant term tends to flatten the surface. In addition, our analysis sheds light into an existing debate in the problem of spontaneous imbibition, where time dependent couplings naturally arise in theoretical models and experiments.
We perform a time-dependent study of the driven dynamics of overdamped particles which are placed in a one-dimensional, piecewise linear random potential. This set-up of spatially quenched disorder then exerts a dichotomous varying random force on the particles. We derive the path integral representation of the resulting probability density function for the position of the particles and transform this quantity of interest into the form of a Fourier integral. In doing so, the evolution of the probability density can be investigated analytically for finite times. It is demonstrated that the probability density contains both a $delta$-singular contribution and a regular part. While the former part plays a dominant role at short times, the latter rules the behavior at large evolution times. The slow approach of the probability density to a limiting Gaussian form as time tends to infinity is elucidated in detail.