TY - JOUR
T1 - Dynamics Of (2 + 1)-dimensional sos surfaces above
T2 - A wall: Slow mixing induced by entropic repulsion1
AU - Caputo, Pietro
AU - Lubetzky, Eyal
AU - Martinelli, Fabio
AU - Sly, Allan
AU - Toninelli, Fabio Lucio
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2014 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2014/7
Y1 - 2014/7
N2 - We study the Glauber dynamics for the (2 + 1)D Solid-On-Solid model above a hard wall and below a far away ceiling, on an L × L box of Z2 with zero boundary conditions, at large inverse-temperature β. It was shown by Bricmont, El Mellouki and Fröhlich [J. Stat. Phys. 42 (1986) 743-798] that the floor constraint induces an entropic repulsion effect which lifts the surface to an average height H = (1/β) logL. As an essential step in understanding the effect of entropic repulsion on the Glauber dynamics we determine the equilibrium height H to within an additive constant: H = (1/4β) logL + O(1). We then show that starting from zero initial conditions the surface rises to its final height H through a sequence of metastable transitions between consecutive levels. The time for a transition from height h = aH, a ∈ (0, 1), to height h + 1 is roughly exp(cLa) for some constant c > 0. In particular, the mixing time of the dynamics is exponentially large in L, that is, TMIX ≥ ecL. We also provide the matching upper bound TMIX ≤ ec*L, requiring a challenging analysis of the statistics of height contours at low temperature and new coupling ideas and techniques. Finally, to emphasize the role of entropic repulsion we show that without a floor constraint at height zero the mixing time is no longer exponentially large in L.
AB - We study the Glauber dynamics for the (2 + 1)D Solid-On-Solid model above a hard wall and below a far away ceiling, on an L × L box of Z2 with zero boundary conditions, at large inverse-temperature β. It was shown by Bricmont, El Mellouki and Fröhlich [J. Stat. Phys. 42 (1986) 743-798] that the floor constraint induces an entropic repulsion effect which lifts the surface to an average height H = (1/β) logL. As an essential step in understanding the effect of entropic repulsion on the Glauber dynamics we determine the equilibrium height H to within an additive constant: H = (1/4β) logL + O(1). We then show that starting from zero initial conditions the surface rises to its final height H through a sequence of metastable transitions between consecutive levels. The time for a transition from height h = aH, a ∈ (0, 1), to height h + 1 is roughly exp(cLa) for some constant c > 0. In particular, the mixing time of the dynamics is exponentially large in L, that is, TMIX ≥ ecL. We also provide the matching upper bound TMIX ≤ ec*L, requiring a challenging analysis of the statistics of height contours at low temperature and new coupling ideas and techniques. Finally, to emphasize the role of entropic repulsion we show that without a floor constraint at height zero the mixing time is no longer exponentially large in L.
KW - Glauber dynamics
KW - Mixing times
KW - Random surface models
KW - SOS model
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U2 - 10.1214/13-AOP836
DO - 10.1214/13-AOP836
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84903896859
VL - 42
SP - 1516
EP - 1589
JO - Annals of Probability
JF - Annals of Probability
SN - 0091-1798
IS - 4
ER -