Activation and Avalanche Length Scales in the Finite-Temperature Creep of an Elastic Interface
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866908996741365760 |
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| author | Russo, Giovanni Ferrero, Ezequiel E. Kolton, Alejandro B. Rosso, Alberto Vandembroucq, Damien |
| author_facet | Russo, Giovanni Ferrero, Ezequiel E. Kolton, Alejandro B. Rosso, Alberto Vandembroucq, Damien |
| contents | We investigate the creep dynamics of a driven elastic line at finite temperature, well below the depinning threshold. We show that creep is governed by two distinct length scales. The first, $\ell_{\mathrm{opt}}$, corresponds to the optimal activated rearrangements that control the dynamics' bottleneck and remains essentially temperature-independent. The second, $\ell_{\mathrm{av}}$, characterizes the spatial extent of thermally activated avalanches and grows as temperature decreases. By combining structural and dynamical observables, we show that $\ell_{\mathrm{av}}$ governs both the crossover in the structure factor and the growth of the four-point dynamical susceptibility, while the relaxation time remains controlled by activation over large barriers associated with $\ell_{\mathrm{opt}}$. We find that the avalanche scale follows $\ell_{\mathrm{av}}(T)\sim T^{-ν_{\mathrm{dep}}}$, thereby selecting a unique scenario among competing theoretical predictions. These results establish a unified picture of finite-temperature creep in which activation controls temporal scales while depinning criticality governs spatial correlations. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_17600 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Activation and Avalanche Length Scales in the Finite-Temperature Creep of an Elastic Interface Russo, Giovanni Ferrero, Ezequiel E. Kolton, Alejandro B. Rosso, Alberto Vandembroucq, Damien Statistical Mechanics Disordered Systems and Neural Networks Soft Condensed Matter We investigate the creep dynamics of a driven elastic line at finite temperature, well below the depinning threshold. We show that creep is governed by two distinct length scales. The first, $\ell_{\mathrm{opt}}$, corresponds to the optimal activated rearrangements that control the dynamics' bottleneck and remains essentially temperature-independent. The second, $\ell_{\mathrm{av}}$, characterizes the spatial extent of thermally activated avalanches and grows as temperature decreases. By combining structural and dynamical observables, we show that $\ell_{\mathrm{av}}$ governs both the crossover in the structure factor and the growth of the four-point dynamical susceptibility, while the relaxation time remains controlled by activation over large barriers associated with $\ell_{\mathrm{opt}}$. We find that the avalanche scale follows $\ell_{\mathrm{av}}(T)\sim T^{-ν_{\mathrm{dep}}}$, thereby selecting a unique scenario among competing theoretical predictions. These results establish a unified picture of finite-temperature creep in which activation controls temporal scales while depinning criticality governs spatial correlations. |
| title | Activation and Avalanche Length Scales in the Finite-Temperature Creep of an Elastic Interface |
| topic | Statistical Mechanics Disordered Systems and Neural Networks Soft Condensed Matter |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.17600 |