Motion of discrete interfaces in low-contrast random environments

Abstract

We study the asymptotic behavior of a discrete-in-time minimizing movement scheme for square lattice interfaces when both the lattice spacing and the time step vanish. The motion is assumed to be driven by minimization of a weighted random perimeter functional with an additional deterministic dissipation term. We consider rectangular initial sets and lower order random perturbations of the perimeter functional. In case of stationary, $\alpha$-mixing perturbations we prove a stochastic homogenization result for the interface velocity. We also provide an example which indicates that stationary, ergodic perturbations do not yield a spatially homogenized limit velocity for this minimizing movement scheme.

25 pages, 1 figure