Percolation of randomly distributed growing clusters: finite-size scaling and critical exponents for the square...

We study the percolation properties of the growing clusters model on a 2D square lattice. In this model, a number of seeds placed on random locations on the lattice are allowed to grow with a constant velocity to form clusters. When two or more clusters eventually touch each other they immediately stop their growth. The model exhibits a discontinuous transition for very low values of the seed concentration p and a second, nontrivial continuous phase transition for intermediate p values. Here we study in detail this continuous transition that separates a phase of finite clusters from a phase characterized by the presence of a giant component. Using finite size scaling and large scale Monte Carlo simulations we determine the value of the percolation threshold where the giant component first appears, and the critical exponents that characterize the transition. We find that the transition belongs to a different universality class from the standard percolation transition.