Universality classes in anisotropic non-equilibrium growth models

We study the effect of generic spatial anisotropies on the scaling behavior in the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation. In contrast to its "conserved" variants, anisotropic perturbations are found to be relevant in d > 2 dimensions, leading to rich phenomena that include novel universality classes and the possibility of first-order phase transitions and multicritical behavior. These results question the presumed scaling universality in the strong-coupling rough phase, and shed further light on the connection with generalized driven diffusive systems.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, 2 figures (eps files enclosed

Kinetics of phase-separation in the critical spherical model and local scale-invariance

The scaling forms of the space- and time-dependent two-time correlation and response functions are calculated for the kinetic spherical model with a conserved order-parameter and quenched to its critical point from a completely disordered initial state. The stochastic Langevin equation can be split into a noise part and into a deterministic part which has local scale-transformations with a dynamical exponent z=4 as a dynamical symmetry. An exact reduction formula allows to express any physical average in terms of averages calculable from the deterministic part alone. The exact spherical model results are shown to agree with these predictions of local scale-invariance. The results also include kinetic growth with mass conservation as described by the Mullins-Herring equation.Comment: Latex2e with IOP macros, 28 pp, 2 figures, final for

Influence of local carrying capacity restrictions on stochastic predator-prey models

We study a stochastic lattice predator-prey system by means of Monte Carlo simulations that do not impose any restrictions on the number of particles per site, and discuss the similarities and differences of our results with those obtained for site-restricted model variants. In accord with the classic Lotka-Volterra mean-field description, both species always coexist in two dimensions. Yet competing activity fronts generate complex, correlated spatio-temporal structures. As a consequence, finite systems display transient erratic population oscillations with characteristic frequencies that are renormalized by fluctuations. For large reaction rates, when the processes are rendered more local, these oscillations are suppressed. In contrast with site-restricted predator-prey model, we observe species coexistence also in one dimension. In addition, we report results on the steady-state prey age distribution.Comment: Latex, IOP style, 17 pages, 9 figures included, related movies available at http://www.phys.vt.edu/~tauber/PredatorPrey/movies

Three-fold way to extinction in populations of cyclically competing species

Species extinction occurs regularly and unavoidably in ecological systems. The time scales for extinction can broadly vary and inform on the ecosystem's stability. We study the spatio-temporal extinction dynamics of a paradigmatic population model where three species exhibit cyclic competition. The cyclic dynamics reflects the non-equilibrium nature of the species interactions. While previous work focusses on the coarsening process as a mechanism that drives the system to extinction, we found that unexpectedly the dynamics to extinction is much richer. We observed three different types of dynamics. In addition to coarsening, in the evolutionary relevant limit of large times, oscillating traveling waves and heteroclinic orbits play a dominant role. The weight of the different processes depends on the degree of mixing and the system size. By analytical arguments and extensive numerical simulations we provide the full characteristics of scenarios leading to extinction in one of the most surprising models of ecology

Facilitated spin models in one dimension: a real-space renormalization group study

We use a real-space renormalization group (RSRG) to study the low temperature dynamics of kinetically constrained Ising chains (KCICs). We consider the cases of the Fredrickson-Andersen (FA) model, the East model, and the partially asymmetric KCIC. We show that the RSRG allows one to obtain in a unified manner the dynamical properties of these models near their zero-temperature critical points. These properties include the dynamic exponent, the growth of dynamical lengthscales, and the behaviour of the excitation density near criticality. For the partially asymmetric chain the RG predicts a crossover, on sufficiently large length and time scales, from East-like to FA-like behaviour. Our results agree with the known results for KCICs obtained by other methods.Comment: 13 pages. Extended East model RG to arbitrary block sizes. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Nonequilibrium critical dynamics of the relaxational models C and D

We investigate the critical dynamics of the $n$-component relaxational models C and D which incorporate the coupling of a nonconserved and conserved order parameter S, respectively, to the conserved energy density rho, under nonequilibrium conditions by means of the dynamical renormalization group. Detailed balance violations can be implemented isotropically by allowing for different effective temperatures for the heat baths coupling to the slow modes. In the case of model D with conserved order parameter, the energy density fluctuations can be integrated out. For model C with scalar order parameter, in equilibrium governed by strong dynamic scaling (z_S = z_rho), we find no genuine nonequilibrium fixed point. The nonequilibrium critical dynamics of model C with n = 1 thus follows the behavior of other systems with nonconserved order parameter wherein detailed balance becomes effectively restored at the phase transition. For n >= 4, the energy density decouples from the order parameter. However, for n = 2 and n = 3, in the weak dynamic scaling regime (z_S <= z_rho) entire lines of genuine nonequilibrium model C fixed points emerge to one-loop order, which are characterized by continuously varying critical exponents. Similarly, the nonequilibrium model C with spatially anisotropic noise and n < 4 allows for continuously varying exponents, yet with strong dynamic scaling. Subjecting model D to anisotropic nonequilibrium perturbations leads to genuinely different critical behavior with softening only in subsectors of momentum space and correspondingly anisotropic scaling exponents. Similar to the two-temperature model B the effective theory at criticality can be cast into an equilibrium model D dynamics, albeit incorporating long-range interactions of the uniaxial dipolar type.Comment: Revtex, 23 pages, 5 eps figures included (minor additions), to appear in Phys. Rev.

Stochastic population oscillations in spatial predator-prey models

It is well-established that including spatial structure and stochastic noise in models for predator-prey interactions invalidates the classical deterministic Lotka-Volterra picture of neutral population cycles. In contrast, stochastic models yield long-lived, but ultimately decaying erratic population oscillations, which can be understood through a resonant amplification mechanism for density fluctuations. In Monte Carlo simulations of spatial stochastic predator-prey systems, one observes striking complex spatio-temporal structures. These spreading activity fronts induce persistent correlations between predators and prey. In the presence of local particle density restrictions (finite prey carrying capacity), there exists an extinction threshold for the predator population. The accompanying continuous non-equilibrium phase transition is governed by the directed-percolation universality class. We employ field-theoretic methods based on the Doi-Peliti representation of the master equation for stochastic particle interaction models to (i) map the ensuing action in the vicinity of the absorbing state phase transition to Reggeon field theory, and (ii) to quantitatively address fluctuation-induced renormalizations of the population oscillation frequency, damping, and diffusion coefficients in the species coexistence phase.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, submitted to J. Phys C: Conf. Ser. (2011

Coarsening of Disordered Quantum Rotors under a Bias Voltage

We solve the dynamics of an ensemble of interacting rotors coupled to two leads at different chemical potential letting a current flow through the system and driving it out of equilibrium. We show that at low temperature the coarsening phase persists under the voltage drop up to a critical value of the applied potential that depends on the characteristics of the electron reservoirs. We discuss the properties of the critical surface in the temperature, voltage, strength of quantum fluctuations and coupling to the bath phase diagram. We analyze the coarsening regime finding, in particular, which features are essentially quantum mechanical and which are basically classical in nature. We demonstrate that the system evolves via the growth of a coherence length with the same time-dependence as in the classical limit, $R(t) \simeq t^{1/2}$ -- the scalar curvature driven universality class. We obtain the scaling function of the correlation function at late epochs in the coarsening regime and we prove that it coincides with the classical one once a prefactor that encodes the dependence on all the parameters is factorized. We derive a generic formula for the current flowing through the system and we show that, for this model, it rapidly approaches a constant that we compute.Comment: 53 pages, 12 figure

Negative mass corrections in a dissipative stochastic environment

We study the dynamics of a macroscopic object interacting with a dissipative stochastic environment using an adiabatic perturbation theory. The perturbation theory reproduces known expressions for the friction coefficient and, surprisingly, gives an additional negative mass correction. The effect of the negative mass correction is illustrated by studying a harmonic oscillator interacting with a dissipative stochastic environment. While it is well known that the friction coefficient causes a reduction of the oscillation frequency, we show that the negative mass correction can lead to its enhancement. By studying an exactly solvable model of a magnet coupled to a spin environment evolving under standard non-conserving dynamics we show that the effect is present even beyond the validity of the adiabatic perturbation theory.We are grateful to M Kolodrubetz for the careful reading of the manuscript and helpful comments. This work was partially supported by BSF 2010318 (YK and AP), NSF DMR-1506340 (LD and AP), AFOSR FA9550-10-1-0110 (LD and AP), ARO W911NF1410540 (LD and AP) and ISF grant (YK). LD acknowledges the office of Naval Research. YK is grateful to the BU visitors program. (2010318 - BSF; DMR-1506340 - NSF; FA9550-10-1-0110 - AFOSR; W911NF1410540 - ARO; ISF grant)Accepted manuscrip

Two Langevin equations in the Doi-Peliti formalism

A system-size expansion method is incorporated into the Doi-Peliti formalism for stochastic chemical kinetics. The basic idea of the incorporation is to introduce a new decomposition of unity associated with a so-called Cole-Hopf transformation. This approach elucidates a relationship between two different Langevin equations; one is associated with a coherent-state path-integral expression and the other describes density fluctuations. A simple reaction scheme $X \rightleftarrows X+X$ is investigated as an illustrative example.Comment: 14page