From ageing to immortality: cluster growth in stirred colloidal solutions

2004/11/27 by Mehta, Anita
#FOS: Physical sciences #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0411684

Abstract

This model describes cluster aggregation in a stirred colloidal solution Interacting clusters compete for growth in this 'winner-takes-all' model; for finite assemblies, the largest cluster always wins, i.e. there is a uniform sediment. In mean-field, the model exhibits glassy dynamics, with two well-separated time scales, corresponding to individual and collective behaviour; the survival probability of a cluster eventually falls off according to a universal law (ln t)^-1/2. In finite dimensions, the glassiness is enhanced: the dynamics manifests both \it ageing and metastability, where pattern formation is manifested in each metastable state by a fraction of \it immortal clusters.

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