English

A growth model in a random environment

Probability 2007-05-23 v2 Disordered Systems and Neural Networks Combinatorics

Abstract

We consider a model of interface growth in two dimensions, given by a height function on the sites of the one--dimensional integer lattice. According to the discrete time update rule, the height above the site xx increases to the height above x1x-1, if the latter height is larger; otherwise the height above xx increases by 1 with probability pxp_x. We assume that pxp_x are chosen independently at random with a common distribution FF, and that the initial state is such that the origin is far above the other sites. We explicitly identify the asymptotic shape and prove that, in the pure regime, the fluctuations about that shape, normalized by the square root of time, are asymptotically normal. This contrasts with the quenched version: conditioned on the environment, and normalized by the cube root of time, the fluctuations almost surely approach a distribution known from random matrix theory.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.math/0011150,
  title  = {A growth model in a random environment},
  author = {Janko Gravner and Craig A. Tracy and Harold Widom},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/0011150},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

31 pages, 5 figures