We study the nonequilibrium phase transition of the contact process with
aperiodic transition rates using a real-space renormalization group as well as
Monte-Carlo simulations. The transition rates are modulated according to the
generalized Fibonacci sequences defined by the inflation rules A → ABk
and B → A. For k=1 and 2, the aperiodic fluctuations are irrelevant, and
the nonequilibrium transition is in the clean directed percolation universality
class. For k≥3, the aperiodic fluctuations are relevant. We develop a
complete theory of the resulting unconventional "infinite-modulation" critical
point which is characterized by activated dynamical scaling. Moreover,
observables such as the survival probability and the size of the active cloud
display pronounced double-log periodic oscillations in time which reflect the
discrete scale invariance of the aperiodic chains. We illustrate our theory by
extensive numerical results, and we discuss relations to phase transitions in
other quasiperiodic systems.Comment: 12 pages, 9 eps figures included, final version as publishe