Kinetic Roughening in Slow Combustion of Paper

Results of experiments on the dynamics and kinetic roughening of one-dimensional slow-combustion fronts in three grades of paper are reported. Extensive averaging of the data allows a detailed analysis of the spatial and temporal development of the interface fluctuations. The asymptotic scaling properties, on long length and time scales, are well described by the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation with short-range, uncorrelated noise. To obtain a more detailed picture of the strong-coupling fixed point, characteristic of the KPZ universality class, universal amplitude ratios, and the universal coupling constant are computed from the data and found to be in good agreement with theory. Below the spatial and temporal scales at which a cross-over takes place to the standard KPZ behavior, the fronts display higher apparent exponents and apparent multiscaling. In this regime the interface velocities are spatially and temporally correlated, and the distribution of the magnitudes of the effective noise has a power-law tail. The relation of the observed short-range behavior and the noise as determined from the local velocity fluctuations is discussed.Comment: RevTeX v3.1, 13 pages, 12 Postscript figures (uses epsf.sty), 3 tables; submitted to Phys. Rev.

Effect of a columnar defect on the shape of slow-combustion fronts

We report experimental results for the behavior of slow-combustion fronts in the presence of a columnar defect with excess or reduced driving, and compare them with those of mean-field theory. We also compare them with simulation results for an analogous problem of driven flow of particles with hard-core repulsion (ASEP) and a single defect bond with a different hopping probability. The difference in the shape of the front profiles for excess vs. reduced driving in the defect, clearly demonstrates the existence of a KPZ-type of nonlinear term in the effective evolution equation for the slow-combustion fronts. We also find that slow-combustion fronts display a faceted form for large enough excess driving, and that there is a corresponding increase then in the average front speed. This increase in the average front speed disappears at a non-zero excess driving in agreement with the simulated behavior of the ASEP model.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Temporal and Spatial Persistence of Combustion Fronts in Paper

The spatial and temporal persistence, or first-return distributions are measured for slow-combustion fronts in paper. The stationary temporal and (perhaps less convincingly) spatial persistence exponents agree with the predictions based on the front dynamics, which asymptotically belongs to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class. The stationary short-range and the transient behavior of the fronts are non-Markovian, and the observed persistence properties thus do not agree with the predictions based on Markovian theory. This deviation is a consequence of additional time and length scales, related to the crossovers to the asymptotic coarse-grained behavior.Peer reviewe

Scaling and Noise in Slow Combustion of Paper

We present results of high resolution experiments on kinetic roughening of slow combustion fronts in paper, focusing on short length and time scales. Using three different grades of paper, we find that the combustion fronts show apparent spatial and temporal multiscaling at short scales. The scaling exponents decrease as a function of the order of the corresponding correlation functions. The noise affecting the fronts reveals short range temporal and spatial correlations, and non-Gaussian noise amplitudes. Our results imply that the overall behavior of slow combustion fronts cannot be explained by standard theories of kinetic roughening.Peer reviewe

Kinetic Roughening in Slow Combustion of Paper

We present results from an experimental study on the kinetic roughening of slow combustion fronts in paper sheets. The sheets were positioned inside a combustion chamber and ignited from the top to minimize convection effects. The emerging fronts were videotaped and digitized to obtain their time-dependent heights. The data were analyzed by calculating two-point correlation functions in the saturated regime. Both the growth and roughening exponents were determined and found consistent with the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation, in agreement with recent theoretical work.Peer reviewe

Comment on: Kinetic Roughening in Slow Combustion of Paper

We comment on a recent Letter by Maunuksela et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 1515 (1997)].Comment: 1 page, 1 figure, http://polymer.bu.edu/~hmakse/Home.htm

Growing interfaces uncover universal fluctuations behind scale invariance

Stochastic motion of a point -- known as Brownian motion -- has many successful applications in science, thanks to its scale invariance and consequent universal features such as Gaussian fluctuations. In contrast, the stochastic motion of a line, though it is also scale-invariant and arises in nature as various types of interface growth, is far less understood. The two major missing ingredients are: an experiment that allows a quantitative comparison with theory and an analytic solution of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation, a prototypical equation for describing growing interfaces. Here we solve both problems, showing unprecedented universality beyond the scaling laws. We investigate growing interfaces of liquid-crystal turbulence and find not only universal scaling, but universal distributions of interface positions. They obey the largest-eigenvalue distributions of random matrices and depend on whether the interface is curved or flat, albeit universal in each case. Our exact solution of the KPZ equation provides theoretical explanations.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, supplementary information available on Journal pag

Classification of KPZQ and BDP models by multiaffine analysis

We argue differences between the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang with Quenched disorder (KPZQ) and the Ballistic Deposition with Power-law noise (BDP) models, using the multiaffine analysis method. The KPZQ and the BDP models show mono-affinity and multiaffinity, respectively. This difference results from the different distribution types of neighbor-height differences in growth paths. Exponential and power-law distributions are observed in the KPZQ and the BDP, respectively. In addition, we point out the difference of profiles directly, i.e., although the surface profiles of both models and the growth path of the BDP model are rough, the growth path of the KPZQ model is smooth.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Finite time corrections in KPZ growth models

We consider some models in the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class, namely the polynuclear growth model and the totally/partially asymmetric simple exclusion process. For these models, in the limit of large time t, universality of fluctuations has been previously obtained. In this paper we consider the convergence to the limiting distributions and determine the (non-universal) first order corrections, which turn out to be a non-random shift of order t^{-1/3} (of order 1 in microscopic units). Subtracting this deterministic correction, the convergence is then of order t^{-2/3}. We also determine the strength of asymmetry in the exclusion process for which the shift is zero. Finally, we discuss to what extend the discreteness of the model has an effect on the fitting functions.Comment: 34 pages, 5 figures, LaTeX; Improved version including shift of PASEP height functio