Power laws in surface physics: The deep, the shallow and the useful
arXiv:cond-mat/0403267 · doi:10.1016/j.physa.2004.05.027
Abstract
The growth and dynamics of solid surfaces displays a multitude of power law relationships, which are often associated with geometric self-similarity. In many cases the mechanisms behind these power laws are comparatively trivial, and require little more than dimensional analysis for their derivation. The information of interest to surface physicists then resides in the prefactors. This point will be illustrated by recent experimental and theoretical work on the growth-induced roughening of thin films and step fluctuations on vicinal surfaces. The conventional distinction between trivial and nontrivial power laws will be critically examined in general, and specifically in the context of persistence of step fluctuations.
To appear in a special issue of Physica A in memory of Per Bak
References in corpus (6)
- Experimental Persistence Probability for Fluctuating Steps
- Temporal and spatial persistence of combustion fronts
- Persistence of a particle in the Matheron-de Marsily velocity field
- Infinite family of persistence exponents for interface fluctuations
- Survival in equilibrium step fluctuations
- Effect of kink-rounding barriers on step edge fluctuations
Cited by in corpus (5)
- Persistence and First-Passage Properties in Non-equilibrium Systems
- Airy Distribution Function: From the Area Under a Brownian Excursion to the Maximal Height of Fluctuating Interfaces
- Universal Asymptotic Statistics of Maximal Relative Height in One-dimensional Solid-on-solid Models
- Persistence of Randomly Coupled Fluctuating Interfaces
- Persistence and survival in equilibrium step fluctuations