title: Critical properties of loop percolation models with optimization constraints.
abstract: We study loop percolation models in two and in three space dimensions, in which configurations of occupied bonds are forced to form a closed loop. We show that the uncorrelated occupation of elementary plaquettes of the square and the simple cubic lattice by elementary loops leads to a percolation transition that is in the same universality class as the conventional percolation. In contrast to this, an optimization constraint for the loop configurations, which then have to minimize a particular generic energy function, leads to a percolation transition that constitutes a universality class for which we report the critical exponents. Implication for the physics of solid-on-solid and vortex glass models are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Theoretische Physik, Universität des Saarlandes, 66041 Saarbrücken, Germany.
authors.forename: Frank O
authors.initials: FO
authors.lastname: Pfeiffer
authors.forename: Heiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rieger