Abstract
The distributions of interisland gaps and captures zones for islands nucleated on a one-dimensional substrate during submonolayer deposition are considered using a novel retrospective view. This provides an alternative perspective on why scaling occurs in this continuously evolving system. Distributional fixed-point equations for the gaps are derived both with and without a mean-field approximation for nearest neighbor gap-size correlation. Solutions to the equations show that correct consideration of fragmentation bias justifies the mean-field approach, which can be extended to provide closed-from equations for the capture zones. Our results compare favorably to Monte Carlo data for both point and extended islands using a range of critical island size . We also find satisfactory agreement with theoretical models based on more traditional fragmentation theory approaches.
1 More- Received 27 February 2012
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.86.051606
©2012 American Physical Society