5 research outputs found
Random growth models with polygonal shapes
We consider discrete-time random perturbations of monotone cellular automata
(CA) in two dimensions. Under general conditions, we prove the existence of
half-space velocities, and then establish the validity of the Wulff
construction for asymptotic shapes arising from finite initial seeds. Such a
shape converges to the polygonal invariant shape of the corresponding
deterministic model as the perturbation decreases. In many cases, exact
stability is observed. That is, for small perturbations, the shapes of the
deterministic and random processes agree exactly. We give a complete
characterization of such cases, and show that they are prevalent among
threshold growth CA with box neighborhood. We also design a nontrivial family
of CA in which the shape is exactly computable for all values of its
probability parameter.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/009117905000000512 in the
Annals of Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aop/) by the Institute of
Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org