Morphological transition between diffusion-limited and ballistic aggregation growth patterns

TL;DR

This study investigates the transition between diffusion-limited and ballistic aggregation patterns using a biased random walk model, revealing universal scaling laws and critical exponents governing the morphological crossover.

Contribution

The paper introduces an efficient algorithm to simulate large clusters and characterizes the universal scaling behavior during the DLA to BA transition.

Findings

The mean density approaches a universal power law with a fixed exponent.

The asymptotic density scales with the bias parameter as a power law.

Characteristic crossover length diverges near the transition point, following a power law.

Abstract

In this work, the transition between diffusion-limited and ballistic aggregation models was revisited using a model in which biased random walks simulate the particle trajectories. The bias is controlled by a parameter $\lambda$, which assumes the value $\lambda=0$ (1) for ballistic (diffusion-limited) aggregation model. Patterns growing from a single seed were considered. In order to simulate large clusters, a new efficient algorithm was developed. For $\lambda \ne 0$, the patterns are fractal on the small length scales, but homogeneous on the large ones. We evaluated the mean density of particles $\bar{\rho}$ in the region defined by a circle of radius $r$ centered at the initial seed. As a function of $r$, $\bar{\rho}$ reaches the asymptotic value $\rho_0(\lambda)$ following a power law $\bar{\rho}=\rho_0+Ar^{-\gamma}$ with a universal exponent $\gamma=0.46(2)$, independent of $\lambda$. The asymptotic value has the behavior $\rho_0\sim|1-\lambda|^\beta$, where $\beta= 0.26(1)$. The characteristic crossover length that determines the transition from DLA- to BA-like scaling regimes is given by $\xi\sim|1-\lambda|^{-\nu}$, where $\nu=0.61(1)$, while the cluster mass at the crossover follows a power law $M_\xi\sim|1 -\lambda|^{-\alpha}$, where $\alpha=0.97(2)$. We deduce the scaling relations $\beta=\n u\gamma$ and $\beta=2\nu-\alpha$ between these exponents.