Relaxation dynamics of an elastic string in random media

preprint2009arXivOpen access

Abstract

We investigate numerically the relaxation dynamics of an elastic string in two-dimensional random media by thermal fluctuations starting from a flat configuration. Measuring spatial fluctuations of its mean position, we find that the correlation length grows in time asymptotically as ξ∼(ln⁡t)1/χ~ξ\sim (\ln t)^{1/\tildeχ}. This implies that the relaxation dynamics is driven by thermal activations over random energy barriers which scale as EB(ℓ)∼ℓχ~E_B(\ell) \sim \ell^{\tildeχ} with a length scale ℓ\ell. Numerical data strongly suggest that the energy barrier exponent χ~\tildeχ is identical to the energy fluctuation exponent χ=1/3χ=1/3. We also find that there exists a long transient regime, where the correlation length follows a power-law dynamics as ξ∼t1/zξ\sim t^{1/z} with a nonuniversal dynamic exponent zz. The origin of the transient scaling behavior is discussed in the context of the relaxation dynamics on finite ramified clusters of disorder.

Explore this paper’s authors, topics and related work.

Building this map preview

BZPEER is loading the nearby papers, people, topics and institutions for this page.

Reviews 0

Write a reviewWrite

No reviews yet.

Discussion 0

Add a commentWrite

No comments yet.