title: Fluctuations of an atomic ledge bordering a crystalline facet.
abstract: When a high symmetry facet joins the rounded part of a crystal, the step line density vanishes as square root of r with r denoting the distance from the facet edge. This means that the ledge bordering the facet has a lot of space to meander as caused by thermal activation. We investigate the statistical properties of the border ledge fluctuations. In the scaling regime they turn out to be non-Gaussian and related to the edge statistics of Gaussian unitary ensemble multimatrix models.
authors.affiliation: Zentrum Mathematik and Physik Department, TU Munich, D-85747 Garching, Germany. ferrari@ma.tum.edu
authors.forename: Patrik L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prähofer
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Spohn