Condensate formation in a zero-range process with random site capacities

We study the effect of quenched disorder on the zero-range process (ZRP), a system of interacting particles undergoing biased hopping on a one-dimensional periodic lattice, with the disorder entering through random capacities of sites. In the usual ZRP, sites can accommodate an arbitrary number of particles, and for a class of hopping rates and high enough density, the steady state exhibits a condensate which holds a finite fraction of the total number of particles. The sites of the disordered zero-range process considered here have finite capacities chosen randomly from the Pareto distribution. From the exact steady state measure of the model, we identify the conditions for condensate formation, in terms of parameters that involve both interactions (through the hop rates) and randomness (through the distribution of the site capacities). Our predictions are supported by results obtained from a direct numerical sampling of the steady state and from Monte Carlo simulations. Our study reveals that for a given realization of disorder, the condensate can relocate on the subset of sites with largest capacities. We also study sample-to-sample variation of the critical density required to observe condensation, and show that the corresponding distribution obeys scaling, and has a Gaussian or a Levy-stable form depending on the values of the relevant parameters.Comment: Contribution to the JStatMech Special Issue dedicated to the Galileo Galilei Institute, Florence Workshop "Advances in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics",v2: close to the published versio

Random Sequential Adsorption on a Line: Mean-Field Theory of Diffusional Relaxation

We develop a new fast-diffusion approximation for the kinetics of deposition of extended objects on a linear substrate, accompanied by diffusional relaxation. This new approximation plays the role of the mean-field theory for such processes and is valid over a significantly larger range than an earlier variant, which was based on a mapping to chemical reactions. In particular, continuum-limit off-lattice deposition is described naturally within our approximation. The criteria for the applicability of the mean-field theory are derived. While deposition of dimers, and marginally, trimers, is affected by fluctuations, we find that the k-mer deposition kinetics is asymptotically mean-field like for all k=4,5,..., where the limit k->infinity, when properly defined, describes deposition-diffusion kinetics in the continuum.Comment: 18 page

Shock probes in a one-dimensional Katz-Lebowitz-Spohn model

We consider shock probes in a one-dimensional driven diffusive medium with nearest neighbor Ising interaction (KLS model). Earlier studies based on an approximate mapping of the present system to an effective zero-range process concluded that the exponents characterising the decays of several static and dynamical correlation functions of the probes depend continuously on the strength of the Ising interaction. On the contrary, our numerical simulations indicate that over a substantial range of the interaction strength, these exponents remain constant and their values are the same as in the case of no interaction (when the medium executes an ASEP). We demonstrate this by numerical studies of several dynamical correlation functions for two probes and also for a macroscopic number of probes. Our results are consistent with the expectation that the short-ranged correlations induced by the Ising interaction should not affect the large time and large distance properties of the system, implying that scaling forms remain the same as in the medium with no interactions present.Comment: Accepted in Physical Review