TY - JOUR AU - Bustingorry, Sebastián AU - Kolton, Alejandro B. PY - 2010/12/20 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Anisotropic finite-size scaling of an elastic string at the depinning threshold in a random-periodic medium JF - Papers in Physics JA - Pap. Phys. VL - 2 IS - 0 SE - Articles DO - 10.4279/pip.020008 UR - https://www.papersinphysics.org/papersinphysics/article/view/44 SP - 020008 AB - <p>We&nbsp;numerically&nbsp;study the geometry of a driven elastic string at its sample-dependent depinning threshold in random-periodic media. We find that the anisotropic finite-size scaling of the average square width $\overline{w^2}$ and of its associated probability distribution are both controlled by the ratio $k=M/L^{\zeta_{dep}}$, where $\zeta_{dep}$ is the random-manifold depinning roughness exponent, $L$ is the longitudinal size of the string and $M$ the transverse periodicity of the random medium. The rescaled average square width $\overline{w^2}/L^{2\zeta_{dep}}$ displays a non-trivial single minimum for a finite value of $k$. We show that the initial decrease for small $k$ reflects the crossover at $k \sim 1$ from the random-periodic to the random-manifold roughness. The increase for very large $k$ implies that the increasingly rare critical configurations, accompanying the crossover to Gumbel critical-force statistics, display anomalous roughness properties: a transverse-periodicity scaling in spite that $\overline{w^2} \ll M$, and subleading corrections to the standard random-manifold longitudinal-size scaling. Our results are relevant to understanding the dimensional crossover from interface to particle depinning.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Received:</strong> 20 October 2010,&nbsp;<strong></strong><strong>Accepted:</strong> 1 December 2010; <strong>Edited by:</strong>&nbsp; A. Vindigni; <strong>Reviewed by:</strong> A. A. Fedorenko, CNRS-Lab. de Physique, ENS de Lyon, France; <strong>DOI:</strong> 10.4279/PIP.020008</p> ER -