Comment on "Random Walks, Reaction-Diffusion, and Nonequilibrium Dynamics of Spin Chains in One-Dimensional Random Environments"

Abstract

In a recent letter [PRL 80 (1998) 3539] Fisher, Le Doussal and Monthus report new predictions for the persistence properties of Sinai's model, which they obtain by using an approximate real space renormalization group scheme. In this comment we show that these predictions can be derived in a rigorous and more transparent way by reducing the quantities of interest to particular statistical properties of a simple random walk in a homogeneous environment. We also point out that they are valid in a much more general context: our results are neither restricted to the random force model but are valid for any asymmetric hopping model, nor to the vicinity of the critical point.