1997/11/18 by D. S. Fisher · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/s0370-1573(98)00008-8
56 pages, 11 postscript figures, to be published in NATO Statistical Physics Summer School Lectures on "Fundamental Problems in Statistical Mechanics IX", held in Altenberg, Germany, August 20-23, 1997
arxiv created 1997/11/18 · arxiv updated 2015/06/25
In these lectures, a variety of non-equilibrium transport phenomena are introduced that all involve, in some way, elastic manifolds being driven through random media. A simple class of models is studied focussing on the behavior near to the critical ``depinning'' force above which persistent motion occurs in these systems. A simple mean field theory and a ``toy'' model of ``avalanche'' processes are analyzed and used to motivate the general scaling picture found in recent renormalization group studies. The general ideas and results are then applied to various systems: sliding charge density waves, critical current behavior of vortices in superconductors, dynamics of cracks, and simple models of a geological fault. The roles of thermal fluctuations, defects, inertia, and elastic wave propagation are all discussed briefly.