Related papers: Critical phenomena at perfect and non-perfect surf…
The effect of imperfections on surface critical properties is studied for Ising models with nearest-neighbour ferromagnetic couplings on simple cubic lattices. In particular, results of Monte Carlo simulations for flat, perfect surfaces are…
The critical behaviour of thin films containing quenched random impurities and inhomogeneities is investigated by the renormalization-group method. The finite-size crossover in impure films has been considered on the basis of the…
The behavior of homogeneous and disordered systems with a free boundary is described on the basis of group theory in the two-loop approximation directly in three-dimensional space. The effect of the free boundary on the regime of the bulk…
The phase transitions and critical properties of two types of inhomogeneous systems are reviewed. In one case, the local critical behaviour results from the particular shape of the system. Here scale-invariant forms like wedges or cones are…
At certain quantum critical points in metals an entire Fermi surface may disappear. A crucial question is the nature of the electronic excitations at the critical point. Here we provide arguments showing that at such quantum critical points…
Nonequilibrium surface autocorrelation and autoresponse functions are studied numerically in semi-infinite critical systems in the dynamical scaling regime. Dynamical critical behaviour is examined for a nonconserved order parameter in…
We consider the critical behavior at an interface which separates two semi-infinite subsystems belonging to different universality classes, thus having different set of critical exponents, but having a common transition temperature. We…
We consider the contact process near an extended surface defect, where the local control parameter deviates from the bulk one by an amount of $\lambda(l)-\lambda(\infty) = A l^{-s}$, $l$ being the distance from the surface. We concentrate…
The critical behavior of semi-infinite systems in fixed dimensions $d<4$ is investigated theoretically. The appropriate extension of Parisi's massive field theory approach is presented.Two-loop calculations and subsequent Pad\'e-Borel…
We report Monte Carlo simulations of critical dynamics far from equilibrium on a perfect and non-perfect surface in the 3d Ising model. For an ordered initial state, the dynamic relaxation of the surface magnetization, the line…
In order to elucidate the role of surfaces at nonequilibrium phase transitions we consider kinetic Ising models with surfaces subjected to a periodic oscillating magnetic field. Whereas the corresponding bulk system undergoes a continuous…
In low dimensions, conformal anomaly has profound influence on the critical behavior of random surfaces with extrinsic curvature rigidity $1/\a$. We illustrate this by making a small $D$ expansion of rigid random surfaces, where a…
The critical behaviour of $d$-dimensional semi-infinite systems with $n$-component order parameter $\bm{\phi}$ is studied at an $m$-axial bulk Lifshitz point whose wave-vector instability is isotropic in an $m$-dimensional subspace of…
At a critical point of a second order phase transition the intrinsic energy surface is flat and there is no stable minimum value of the deformation. However, for a finite system, we show that there is an effective deformation which can…
We present a general scaling theory for the surface critical behavior of non-equilibrium systems with phase transitions into absorbing states. The theory allows for two independent surface exponents which satisfy generalized hyperscaling…
Surface critical behavior (SCB) refers to the singularities of physical quantities on the surface at the bulk phase transition. It is closely related to and even richer than the bulk critical behavior. In this work, we show that three types…
We present microscopic models of spin ladders which exhibit continuous critical surfaces whose properties and existence, unusually, cannot be inferred from those of the flanking phases. These models exhibit either `multiversality' -- the…
The critical behaviour of semi-infinite $d$-dimensional systems with short-range interactions and an O(n) invariant Hamiltonian is investigated at an $m$-axial Lifshitz point with an isotropic wave-vector instability in an $m$-dimensional…
The critical behaviour of three-dimensional semi-infinite Ising ferromagnets at planar surfaces with (i) random surface-bond disorder or (ii) a terrace of monatomic height and macroscopic size is considered. The Griffiths-Kelly-Sherman…
This paper contains the motivation for the study of critical surfaces. In previous work the only justification given for the definition of this new class of surfaces is the strength of the results. However, when viewed as the topological…