Fluctuations of self-flattening surfaces

Abstract

We study the scaling properties of self-flattening surfaces under global suppression on surface fluctuations. Evolution of self-flattening surfaces is described by restricted solid-on-solid type monomer deposition-evaporation model with reduced deposition (evaporation) at the globally highest (lowest) site. We find numerically that equilibrium surface fluctuations are anomalous with roughness exponent $\alpha\simeq 1/3$ and dynamic exponent $z_W \simeq 3/2$ in one dimension (1D) and $\alpha=0 (\log)$ and $z_W \simeq 5/2$ in 2D. Stationary roughness can be understood analytically by relating our model to the static self-attracting random walk model and the dissociative dimer type deposition-evaporation model. In case of nonequilibrium growing/eroding surfaces, self-flattening dynamics turns out to be irrelevant and the normal Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality is recovered in all dimensions.