Effects of random environment on a self-organized critical system: Renormalization group analysis of a continuous model

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how random fluid motion influences a self-organized critical system using renormalization group techniques, revealing different scaling behaviors depending on the relation between model parameters.

Contribution

It applies field theoretic renormalization group analysis to a continuous stochastic model, identifying distinct large-scale behaviors and critical exponents based on parameter relations.

Findings

Different types of large-scale, long-time scaling behavior identified.

Critical exponents calculated exactly for various regimes.

System exhibits diffusion, passive scalar advection, or critical behavior depending on parameters.

Abstract

We study effects of random fluid motion on a system in a self-organized critical state. The latter is described by the continuous stochastic model, proposed by Hwa and Kardar [{\it Phys. Rev. Lett.} {\bf 62}: 1813 (1989)]. The advecting velocity field is Gaussian, not correlated in time, with the pair correlation function of the form $\propto \delta(t-t') / k_{\bot}^{d-1+\xi}$, where $k_{\bot}=|{\bf k}_{\bot}|$ and ${\bf k}_{\bot}$ is the component of the wave vector, perpendicular to a certain preferred direction -- the $d$-dimensional generalization of the ensemble introduced by Avellaneda and Majda [{\it Commun. Math. Phys.} {\bf 131}: 381 (1990)]. Using the field theoretic renormalization group we show that, depending on the relation between the exponent $\xi$ and the spatial dimension $d$, the system reveals different types of large-scale, long-time scaling behaviour, associated with the three possible fixed points of the renormalization group equations. They correspond to ordinary diffusion, to passively advected scalar field (the nonlinearity of the Hwa--Kardar model is irrelevant) and to the "pure" Hwa--Kardar model (the advection is irrelevant). For the special choice $\xi=2(4-d)/3$ both the nonlinearity and the advection are important. The corresponding critical exponents are found exactly for all these cases.