Universality of vortex avalanches in a type II superconductor with periodic pinning

TL;DR

This paper investigates the robustness of a cellular automaton model for vortex avalanches in type-II superconductors, discovering a new universality class through different pinning configurations and critical exponent analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a new universality class for vortex avalanches by modifying pinning configurations in a cellular automaton model.

Findings

Identification of a new universality class

Critical exponents calculated with two scaling methods

Model robustness confirmed across configurations

Abstract

In this work the robustness of a simple cellular automaton developed by Bassler and Paczuski to describe the critical state in type-II superconductors is studied. Two different configurations of pinning centers are introduced and a new universality class is found. The numerical values of the critical exponents were calculated following two scaling techniques to ensure the validity of our results.