Universality Classes for Interface Growth with Quenched Disorder

TL;DR

This paper identifies two universality classes in driven interface roughening with quenched disorder, distinguished by the behavior of the nonlinear growth coefficient at the depinning transition.

Contribution

It provides numerical evidence for the existence of two distinct universality classes based on the behavior of the nonlinear coefficient in growth models with quenched disorder.

Findings

Three models show $mbda ightarrow inity$ at depinning.

Two models show $mbda ightarrow 0$ at depinning.

Distinct universality classes are characterized by the nonlinear coefficient behavior.

Abstract

We present numerical evidence that there are two distinct universality classes characterizing driven interface roughening in the presence of quenched disorder. The evidence is based on the behavior of $\lambda$, the coefficient of the nonlinear term in the growth equation. Specifically, for three of the models studied, $\lambda \rightarrow \infty$ at the depinning transition, while for the two other models, $\lambda \rightarrow 0$.