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Fluctuations of an atomic ledge bordering a crystalline facet
Patrik L Ferrari1, Michael Prähofer, Herbert Spohn
1Zentrum Mathematik and Physik Department, TU Munich, D-85747 Garching, Germany. ferrari@ma.tum.edu
Abstract:
When a high symmetry facet joins the rounded part of a crystal, the step line density vanishes as square root of r with r denoting the distance from the facet edge. This means that the ledge bordering the facet has a lot of space to meander as caused by thermal activation. We investigate the statistical properties of the border ledge fluctuations. In the scaling regime they turn out to be non-Gaussian and related to the edge statistics of Gaussian unitary ensemble multimatrix models.