Fluctuations of an Atomic Ledge Bordering a Crystalline Facet
Statistical Mechanics
2009-11-10 v2 Mathematical Physics
math.MP
Abstract
When a high symmetry facet joins the rounded part of a crystal, the step line density vanishes as sqrt(r) with r denoting the distance from the facet edge. This means that the ledge bordering the facet has a lot of space to meander as caused by thermal activation. We investigate the statistical properties of the border ledge fluctuations. In the scaling regime they turn out to be non-Gaussian and related to the edge statistics of GUE multi-matrix models.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0303162,
title = {Fluctuations of an Atomic Ledge Bordering a Crystalline Facet},
author = {Patrik L. Ferrari and Michael Praehofer and Herbert Spohn},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0303162},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
Version with major revisions -- RevTeX, 4 pages, 2 figures