A deterministic model of competitive cluster growth: glassy dynamics, metastability and pattern formation

We investigate a model of interacting clusters which compete for growth. For a finite assembly of coupled clusters, the largest one always wins, so that all but this one die out in a finite time. This scenario of `survival of the biggest' still holds in the mean-field limit, where the model exhibits glassy dynamics, with two well separated time scales, corresponding to individual and collective behaviour. The survival probability of a cluster eventually falls off according to the universal law $(\ln t)^{-1/2}$. Beyond mean field, the dynamics exhibits both aging and metastability, with a finite fraction of the clusters surviving forever and forming a non-trivial spatial pattern.