Universal correlations between shocks in the ground state of elastic interfaces in disordered media

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that correlations between shocks in the ground state of elastic interfaces in disordered media are universal and can be characterized using the Functional Renormalization Group, with results confirmed by simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a universal description of shock correlations in elastic interfaces using FRG and computes their statistical properties to first order in epsilon expansion.

Findings

Correlations between shocks are universal functions of their separation.

The connected second moment of shock sizes equals the renormalized disorder correlator.

Simulation results agree well with theoretical predictions.

Abstract

The ground state of an elastic interface in a disordered medium undergoes collective jumps upon variation of external parameters. These mesoscopic jumps are called shocks, or static avalanches. Submitting the interface to a parabolic potential centered at $w$, we study the avalanches which occur as $w$ is varied. We are interested in the correlations between the avalanche sizes $S_1$ and $S_2$ occurring at positions $w_1$ and $w_2$. Using the Functional Renormalization Group (FRG), we show that correlations exist for realistic interface models below their upper critical dimension. Notably, the connected moment $ \langle S_1 S_2 \rangle^c$ is up to a prefactor exactly the renormalized disorder correlator, itself a function of $|w_2-w_1|$. The latter is the universal function at the center of the FRG; hence correlations between shocks are universal as well. All moments and the full joint probability distribution are computed to first non-trivial order in an $\epsilon$-expansion below the upper critical dimension. To quantify the local nature of the coupling between avalanches, we calculate the correlations of their local jumps. We finally test our predictions against simulations of a particle in random-bond and random-force disorder, with surprisingly good agreement.