Crossover in interface motion

Stefano Zapperi from CC&B, in collaboration with researchers at Cornell University, study the crossover scaling behavior of the height-height correlation function in interface depinning in random media. The paper, published today in Phys Rev E, shows results of the analysis of experimental data from a fracture experiment and simulations of an elastic line model with nonlinear couplings and disorder. Both exhibit a crossover between two different universality classes. For the experiment, the authors fit a functional form to the universal crossover scaling function. For the model, they vary the system size and the strength of the nonlinear term and describe the crossover between the two universality classes with a multiparameter scaling function. The method provides a general strategy to extract scaling properties in depinning systems exhibiting crossover phenomena.

Crossover behavior in interface depinning
Y. J. Chen, Stefano Zapperi, and James P. Sethna
Phys. Rev. E 92, 022146 – Published 27 August 2015