Roughening of two-dimensional interfaces in nonequilibrium phase-separated systems

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that non-equilibrium 2D interfaces between 3D fluids exhibit a unique sub-logarithmic roughness scaling, differing from equilibrium cases, with exact exponents and distinct time scaling behaviors.

Contribution

It introduces the exact scaling law for interface roughness in non-equilibrium systems, revealing a novel sub-logarithmic behavior and contrasting it with equilibrium interface roughness.

Findings

Non-equilibrium interfaces have roughness w ∝ [ln(L/a)]^{1/3}.

Equilibrium interfaces have roughness w ∝ [ln(L/a)]^{1/2}.

Active systems show a τ(L) ∝ L^3 [ln(L/a)]^{1/3} time scale.

Abstract

I show that non-equilibrium two-dimensional interfaces between three dimensional phase separated fluids exhibit a peculiar "sub-logarithmic" roughness. Specifically, an interface of lateral extent $L$ will fluctuate vertically (i.e., normal to the mean surface orientation) a typical RMS distance $w\equiv\sqrt{\langle |h(\br,t)|^2\rangle} \propto [\ln{(L/a)}]^{1/3}$ (where $a$ is a microscopic length, and $ h(\br,t)$ is the height of the interface at two dimensional position $\br$ at time $t$). In contrast, the roughness of equilibrium two-dimensional interfaces between three dimensional fluids, obeys $w \propto [\ln{(L/a)}]^{1/2}$. The exponent $1/3$ for the active case is exact. In addition, the characteristic time scales $\tau(L)$ in the active case scale according to $\tau(L)\propto L^3 [\ln{(L/a)}]^{1/3}$, in contrast to the simple $\tau(L)\propto L^3$ scaling found in equilibrium systems with conserved densities and no fluid flow.