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Short-time relaxation of a driven elastic string in a random medium

Alejandro B. Kolton, Alberto Rosso, Ezequiel V. Albano, and Thierry Giamarchi
Phys. Rev. B 74, 140201(R) – Published 27 October 2006

Abstract

We study numerically the relaxation of a driven elastic string in a two-dimensional pinning landscape. The relaxation of the string, initially flat, is governed by a growing length L(t) separating the short steady-state equilibrated length scales from the large length scales that keep memory of the initial condition. We find a macroscopic short time regime where relaxation is universal, both above and below the depinning threshold, different from the one expected for standard critical phenomena. Below the threshold, the zero-temperature relaxation towards the first pinned configuration provides an experimentally convenient way to access all the critical exponents of the depinning transition independently.

    • Received 17 August 2006

    DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.74.140201

    ©2006 American Physical Society

    Authors & Affiliations

    Alejandro B. Kolton1, Alberto Rosso2, Ezequiel V. Albano3, and Thierry Giamarchi1

    • 1DPMC-MaNEP, University of Geneva, 24 Quai Ernest Ansermet, CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
    • 2LPTMS; CNRS and Université Paris-Sud, UMR 8626, ORSAY CEDEX 91405, France
    • 3INIFTA, Facultad C. Exactas UNLP, CONICET, Casilla de Correo 16, Sucursal 4, (1900) La Plata, Argentina

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    Issue

    Vol. 74, Iss. 14 — 1 October 2006

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