title: Width distribution of contact lines on a disordered substrate.
abstract: We have studied the roughness of a contact line on a disordered substrate by measuring its width distribution, which characterizes the roughness completely. The measured distribution is in excellent agreement with the distribution calculated in previous works, extended here to the case of open boundary conditions. This type of analysis, which is performed here on experimental data, provides a strong confirmation that the Joanny-de Gennes model is not sufficient to describe the dynamics of the contact line at the depinning threshold.
authors.affiliation: CNRS-Laboratoire de Physique Statistique de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Sébastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moulinet
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosso
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Krauth
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rolley