arXiv subjects

Elisabeth Agoritsas

Publications and source records attributed to Elisabeth Agoritsas.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

KPZ equation with short-range correlated noise: emergent symmetries and non-universal observables

We investigate the stationary-state fluctuations of a growing one-dimensional interface described by the KPZ dynamics with a noise featuring smooth spatial correlations of characteristic range $ξ$. We employ Non-perturbative Functional Renormalization Group methods in order to resolve the properties of the system at all scales. We show that the physics of the standard (uncorrelated) KPZ equation emerges on large scales independently of $ξ$. Moreover, the Renormalization Group flow is followed from the initial condition to the fixed point, that is from the microscopic dynamics to the large-distance properties. This provides access to the small-scale features (and their dependence on the details of the noise correlations) as well as to the universal large-scale physics. In particular, we compute the kinetic energy spectrum of the stationary state as well as its non-universal amplitude. The latter is experimentally accessible by measurements at large scales and retains a signature of the microscopic noise correlations. Our results are compared to previous analytical and numerical results from independent approaches. They are in agreement with direct numerical simulations for the kinetic energy spectrum as well as with the prediction, obtained with the replica trick by Gaussian variational method, of a crossover in $ξ$ of the non-universal amplitude of this spectrum.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Power countings versus physical scalings in disordered elastic systems - Case study of the one-dimensional interface

We study the scaling properties of a one-dimensional interface at equilibrium, at finite temperature and in a disordered environment with a finite disorder correlation length. We focus our approach on the scalings of its geometrical fluctuations as a function of its length. At large lengthscales, the roughness of the interface, defined as the variance of its endpoint fluctuations, follows a power-law behaviour whose exponent characterises its superdiffusive behaviour. In 1+1 dimensions, the roughness exponent is known to be the characteristic 2/3 exponent of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class. An important feature of the model description is that its Flory exponent, obtained by a power counting argument on its Hamiltonian, is equal to 3/5 and thus does not yield the correct KPZ roughness exponent. In this work, we review the available power-counting options, and relate the physical validity of the exponent values that they predict, to the existence (or not) of well-defined optimal trajectories in a large-size or low-temperature asymptotics. We identify the crucial role of the 'cut-off' lengths of the problem (the disorder correlation length and the system size), which one has to carefully follow throughout the scaling analysis. To complement the latter, we device a novel Gaussian Variational Method (GVM) scheme to compute the roughness, taking into account the effect of a large but finite interface length. Interestingly, such a procedure yields the correct KPZ roughness exponent, instead of the Flory exponent usually obtained through the GVM approach for an infinite interface. We explain the physical origin of this improvement of the GVM procedure and discuss possible extensions of this work to other disordered systems.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Driven interfaces: from flow to creep through model reduction

The response of spatially extended systems to a force leading their steady state out of equilibrium is strongly affected by the presence of disorder. We focus on the mean velocity induced by a constant force applied on one-dimensional interfaces. In the absence of disorder, the velocity is linear in the force. In the presence of disorder, it is widely admitted, as well as experimentally and numerically verified, that the velocity presents a stretched exponential dependence in the force (the so-called 'creep law'), which is out of reach of linear response, or more generically of direct perturbative expansions at small force. In dimension one, there is no exact analytical derivation of such a law, even from a theoretical physical point of view. We propose an effective model with two degrees of freedom, constructed from the full spatially extended model, that captures many aspects of the creep phenomenology. It provides a justification of the creep law form of the velocity-force characteristics, in a quasistatic approximation. It allows, moreover, to capture the non-trivial effects of short-range correlations in the disorder, which govern the low-temperature asymptotics. It enables us to establish a phase diagram where the creep law manifests itself in the vicinity of the origin in the force--system-size--temperature coordinates. Conjointly, we characterise the crossover between the creep regime and a linear-response regime that arises due to finite system size.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2015

On the relevance of disorder in athermal amorphous materials under shear

We show that, at least at a mean-field level, the effect of structural disorder in sheared amorphous media is very dissimilar depending on the thermal or athermal nature of their underlying dynamics. We first introduce a toy model, including explicitly two types of noise (thermal versus athermal). Within this interpretation framework, we argue that mean-field athermal dynamics can be accounted for by the so-called H{é}braud-Lequeux (HL) model, in which the mechanical noise stems explicitly from the plastic activity in the sheared medium. Then, we show that the inclusion of structural disorder, by means of a distribution of yield energy barriers, has no qualitative effect in the HL model, while such a disorder is known to be one of the key ingredients leading kinematically to a finite macroscopic yield stress in other mean-field descriptions, such as the Soft-Glassy-Rheology model. We conclude that the statistical mechanisms at play in the emergence of a macroscopic yield stress, and a complex stationary dynamics at low shear rate, are different in thermal and athermal amorphous systems.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2013

Static fluctuations of a thick 1D interface in the 1+1 Directed Polymer formulation

Experimental realizations of a 1D interface always exhibit a finite microscopic width $ξ>0$; its influence is erased by thermal fluctuations at sufficiently high temperatures, but turns out to be a crucial ingredient for the description of the interface fluctuations below a characteristic temperature $T_c(ξ)$. Exploiting the exact mapping between the static 1D interface and a 1+1 Directed Polymer (DP) growing in a continuous space, we study analytically both the free-energy and geometrical fluctuations of a DP, at finite temperature $T$, with a short-range elasticity and submitted to a quenched random-bond Gaussian disorder of finite correlation length $ξ$. We derive the exact `time'-evolution equations of the disorder free-energy $\bar{F}(t,y)$, its derivative $η(t,y)$, and their respective two-point correlators $\bar{C}(t,y)$ and $\bar{R}(t,y)$. We compute the exact solution of its linearized evolution $\bar{R}^{lin}(t,y)$, and we combine its qualitative behavior and the asymptotic properties known for an uncorrelated disorder ($ξ=0$), to construct a `toymodel' leading to a simple description of the DP. This model is characterized by Brownian-like free-energy fluctuations, correlated at small $|y|<ξ$, of amplitude $\tilde{D}_{\infty}(T,ξ)$. We present an extended scaling analysis of the roughness predicting $\tilde{D}_{\infty} \sim 1/T$ at high-temperatures and $\tilde{D}_{\infty} \sim 1/T_c(ξ)$ at low-temperatures. We identify the connection between the temperature-induced crossover and the full replica-symmetry breaking in previous Gaussian Variational Method computations. Finally we discuss the consequences of the low-temperature regime for two experimental realizations of KPZ interfaces, namely the static and quasistatic behavior of magnetic domain walls and the high-velocity steady-state dynamics of interfaces in liquid crystals.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2013

Static fluctuations of a thick 1D interface in the 1+1 Directed Polymer formulation: numerical study

We study numerically the geometrical and free-energy fluctuations of a static one-dimensional (1D) interface with a short-range elasticity, submitted to a quenched random-bond Gaussian disorder of finite correlation length $ξ>0$, and at finite temperature $T$. Using the exact mapping from the static 1D interface to the 1+1 Directed Polymer (DP) growing in a continuous space, we focus our analysis on the disorder free-energy of the DP endpoint, a quantity which is strictly zero in absence of disorder and whose sample-to-sample fluctuations at a fixed growing `time' $t$ inherit the statistical translation-invariance of the microscopic disorder explored by the DP. Constructing a new numerical scheme for the integration of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) evolution equation obeyed by the free-energy, we address numerically the `time'- and temperature-dependence of the disorder free-energy fluctuations at fixed finite $ξ$. We examine on one hand the amplitude $\tilde{D}_{t}$ and effective correlation length $\tildeξ_t$ of the free-energy fluctuations, and on the other hand the imprint of the specific microscopic disorder correlator on the large-`time' shape of the free-energy two-point correlator. We observe numerically the crossover to a low-temperature regime below a finite characteristic temperature $T_c(ξ)$, as previously predicted by Gaussian-Variational-Method (GVM) computations and scaling arguments, and extensively investigated analytically in [Phys. Rev. E, 87 042406 (2013)]. Finally we address numerically the `time'- and temperature-dependence of the roughness $B(t)$, which quantifies the DP endpoint transverse fluctuations, and we show how the amplitude $\tilde{D}_{\infty}(T,ξ)$ controls the different regimes experienced by $B(t)$ -- in agreement with the analytical predictions of a DP `toymodel' approach.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2012

Finite-temperature and finite-time scaling of the directed polymer free-energy with respect to its geometrical fluctuations

We study the fluctuations of the directed polymer in 1+1 dimensions in a Gaussian random environment with a finite correlation length ξ and at finite temperature. We address the correspondence between the geometrical transverse fluctuations of the directed polymer, described by its roughness, and the fluctuations of its free-energy, characterized by its two-point correlator. Analytical arguments are provided in favor of a generic scaling law between those quantities, at finite time, non-vanishing ξ and explicit temperature dependence. Numerical results are in good agreement both for simulations on the discrete directed polymer and on a continuous directed polymer (with short-range correlated disorder). Applications to recent experiments on liquid crystals are discussed.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2011

Disordered Elastic Systems and One-Dimensional Interfaces

We briefly introduce the generic framework of Disordered Elastic Systems (DES), giving a short `recipe' of a DES modeling and presenting the quantities of interest in order to probe the static and dynamical disorder-induced properties of such systems. We then focus on a particular low-dimensional DES, namely the one-dimensional interface in short-ranged elasticity and short-ranged quenched disorder. Illustrating different elements given in the introductory sections, we discuss specifically the consequences of the interplay between a finite temperature T>0 and a finite interface width ξ>0 on the static geometrical fluctuations at different lengthscales, and the implications on the quasistatic dynamics.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2010

Temperature-induced crossovers in the static roughness of a one-dimensional interface

At finite temperature and in presence of disorder, a one-dimensional elastic interface displays different scaling regimes at small and large lengthscales. Using a replica approach and a Gaussian Variational Method (GVM), we explore the consequences of a finite interface width $ξ$ on the small-lengthscale fluctuations. We compute analytically the static roughness $B(r)$ of the interface as a function of the distance $r$ between two points on the interface. We focus on the case of short-range elasticity and random-bond disorder. We show that for a finite width $ξ$ two temperature regimes exist. At low temperature, the expected thermal and random-manifold regimes, respectively for small and large scales, connect via an intermediate `modified' Larkin regime, that we determine. This regime ends at a temperature-independent characteristic `Larkin' length. Above a certain `critical' temperature that we identify, this intermediate regime disappears. The thermal and random-manifold regimes connect at a single crossover lengthscale, that we compute. This is also the expected behavior for zero width. Using a directed polymer description, we also study via a second GVM procedure and generic scaling arguments, a modified toy model that provides further insights on this crossover. We discuss the relevance of the two GVM procedures for the roughness at large lengthscale in those regimes. In particular we analyze the scaling of the temperature-dependent prefactor in the roughness $B(r)\sim T^{2 \text{\thorn}} r^{2 ζ}$ and its corresponding exponent $\text{\thorn}$. We briefly discuss the consequences of those results for the quasistatic creep law of a driven interface, in connection with previous experimental and numerical studies.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗