Universality of the Directed Polymer Model

The universality of the directed polymer model and the analogous KPZ equation is supported by numerical simulations using non-Gaussian random probability distributions in two, three and four dimensions. It is shown that although in the non-Gaussian cases the \emph{finite size} estimates of the energy exponents are below the persumed universal values, these estimates \emph{increase} with the system size, and the further they are below the universal values, the higher is their rate of increase. The results are explained in terms of the efficiency of variance reduction during the optimization process.Comment: RevTeX, 3 postscript figure

Distribution of Dangling Ends on the Incipient Percolation Cluster

We study numerically and by scaling arguments the probability P(M)dM that a given dangling end of the incipient percolation cluster has a mass between M and M + dM. We find by scaling arguments that P(M) decays with a power law, P(M)~M^(-(1+k)), with an exponent k=dBf/df, where df and dBf are the fractal dimensions of the cluster and its backbone, respectively. Our numerical results yield k=0.83 in d=2 and k=0.74 in d=3 in very good agreement with theory.Comment: proceedings of the conference "Percolation and Disordered Systems: *Theory and Applications*", Giessen (Germany) 1998, see http://ory.ph.biu.ac.il/PERCOLATION98/ , 4 pages, 3 figures, in press, will be published in Physica