Nonequilibrium wetting transitions with short range forces.
We analyze within mean-field theory as well as numerically a Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation that describes nonequilibrium wetting. Both complete and critical wettitng transitions were found and characterized in detail. For one-dimensional substrates the critical weting temperature is depressed by fluctuations. In addition, we have investigated a region in the space of parameters (temperature and chemical potential) where the wet and nonwet phases coexist. Finite-size scaling analysis of the interfacial detaching times indicates that the finite coexistence region survives in the thermodynamic limit. Within this region we have observed (stable or very long lived) structures related to spatiotemporal intermittency in other systems. In the interfacial representation these structures exhibit perfect triangular (pyramidal) patterns in one dimension (two dimensions), which are characterized by their slope and size distribution.
de los Santos
F
F
Center for Polymer Studies and Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
Telo da Gama
M M
MM
Muñoz
M A
MA