Random sequential adsorption of k-mers on the fully-connected lattice: probability distributions of the covering time and extreme value statistics

Abstract

We study the random sequential adsorption of $k$-mers on the fully-connected lattice with $N=kn$ sites. The probability distribution $T_n(s,t)$ of the time $t$ needed to cover the lattice with $s$ $k$-mers is obtained using a generating function approach. In the low coverage scaling limit where $s,n,t\to \infty$ with $y=s/n^{1/2}=\mathrm{O}(1)$ the random variable $t-s$ follows a Poisson distribution with mean $k{y}^2/2$. In the intermediate coverage scaling limit, when both $s$ and $n-s$ are $\mathrm{O}(n)$, the mean value and the variance of the covering time are growing as $n$ and the fluctuations are Gaussian. When full coverage is approached the scaling functions diverge, which is the signal of a new scaling behaviour. Indeed, when $u=n-s=\mathrm{O}(1)$, the mean value of the covering time grows as $n^k$ and the variance as $n^{2k}$, thus $t$ is strongly fluctuating and no longer self-averaging. In this scaling regime the fluctuations are governed, for each value of $k$, by a different extreme value distribution, indexed by $u$. Explicit results are obtained for monomers (generalized Gumbel distribution) and dimers.

22+9 pages, 8+4 figures