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Random walks on fractal structures and percolation
clusters
R. Rammal, G. Toulouse
To cite this version:
R. Rammal, G. Toulouse. Random walks on fractal structures and percolation clusters. Journal de
Physique Lettres, Edp sciences, 1983, 44 (1), pp.13-22. �10.1051/jphyslet:0198300440101300�.
�jpa-00232136�
L-13
Random
walks
onfractal
structures
and
percolation
clusters
R. Rammal
(*)
and G. ToulouseLaboratoire de
Physique
de l’Ecole NormaleSupérieure,
24, rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
(Re~u le 28 octobre 1982, accepte le 10 novembre 1982)
Résumé. 2014 La notion de dimension
spectrale
d’une structure self-similaire (fractale) estrappelée,
et sa valeur pour la famille des tamis de
Sierpinski
dérivée àpartir
d’un argument d’échelle. On montreque diverses
propriétés
de marche aléatoire telles que laprobabilité
de marches fermées et le nombre moyen de sites visités sont gouvernés par cette dimensionspectrale.
Onsuggère
que lenombre SN
de sites distincts visitéspendant
une marche aléatoire de N pas sur un amas infini au seuil deperco-lation varie
asymptotiquement comme SN ~ N2/3,
en toute dimension. Abstract 2014 The notion ofspectral
dimensionality
of a self-similar (fractal) structure is recalled, and its value for the family ofSierpinski
gaskets derived via ascaling
argument. Various randomwalk
properties
such as theprobability
of closed walks and the mean number of visited sites areshown to be
governed
by thisspectral
dimension. It issuggested
that thenumber SN
of distinct sites visitedduring
an N-step random walk on an infinite cluster atpercolation
threshold variesasympto-tically
as :SN ~
N2/3,
in any dimension.J.
Physique
- LETTRES 44 (1983) L-1~3 - L-22 ler JANVIER 1983, ClassificationPhysics
Abstracts 05.40 - 72.90 - 64.70 1. Introduction. -It is now
recognized
that there are many self-similar structures(named
fractals
by
B. Mandelbrot[1])
in nature and many ways to model them. A random walk in free space or on aperiodic
lattice,
a linear or branchedpolymer,
apercolation
cluster at threshold arejust
a few well-knownexamples
of such realizations. Whenconsidering
the vastcategory
of these self-similargeometrical
spaces, it istempting (by
one turn of thecrank)
toregard
them as basicspaces and to
study
somegeneral physical
effects thereon.Among
past steps
in thatdirection,
one canquote
thestudy
of random walks onpercolation
clusters
[2]
(the
problem
of« the ant in thelabyrinth
»),
thestudy
ofphase
transitions andtransport
properties
on various fractals such asSierpinski gaskets [3, 4],
thestudy
of thedensity
of states on afractal and the definition of a « fracton »
dimensionality
related to diffusion[5].
This paper
attempts
topresent,
in a self-contained manner, someelementary
physics
onself-similar structures. One
important
thread runsthrough
the discussion : standard Euclidean spaceshave translation symmetry, while self-similar spaces have dilation
symmetry.
As a consequence,whereas Euclidean spaces are well characterized
by
one spacedimension : d,
self-similar spacesrequire
the definitionof (at
least)
three dimensions :d,
the dimension of theembedding
Euclidean(*) Permanent address : CNRS-CRTBT, B.P. 166, 38042 Grenoble, France.
PHYSIQUE -
space ; d,
the fractal(Hausdorff)
dimension[1] ; d,
thespectral (fracton)
dimension[5].
For Eucli-dean spaces, these three dimensions areequal.
This can be construed as an « accidental »degene-racy and it is of interest to sort out the different
qualifications
of thedimensionality,
in some of themany formulae where it enters. In this sense, the
study
ofphysics
on self-similar spaces is notonly
an
exploration
of a newworld,
it also allows for adeeper understanding
of thephysics
on moretraditionally
trodden spaces.2. The
spectral
dimensionality 3.
On aperiodic
Euclidianlattice,
ofdimensionality d,
thedensity
of statesp(~),
for excitations offrequency
c~, can be derived from aknowledge
of thedis-persion
relationw(k),
where k is awave-number,
and from acounting
ink-space (reciprocal
space) :
Therefore the
argument
hinges
on the translation invariance of thelattice,
via a Fourier spaceanalysis
of the modes and the definition of a wave-number.In the
vicinity
of the loweredge
of thespectrum
(e.g.
for elasticvibrations),
thedispersion
relation becomes asimple
power law :and the
low-frequency density
of states also :It turns out that a
simple
law behaviour may also be found on self-similar structures. In thiscase, the existence of the power law stems from a
scaling
argument,
which is moregeneral
anddeeper
than theprevious
one, restricted to translation-invariant media.2.1 SCALING ARGUMENT. - To be
specific,
let us consider an elastic structureconsisting
ofN identical units of mass m, linked with
springs
ofstrength
K. Themicroscopic frequency
scale isthen set
by
c~
=K/m.
If the structure isself-similar,
N is related toL,
thelength
scale of thestruc-ture
by
This relation defines the fractal
dimensionality d
of the structure.It
implies
that,
under a scale transformationby
a factorb,
the number N variesaccording
toand
correspondingly
thedensity
of states(per elementary
unit)
scalesaccording
to :If,
under this scaletransformation,
the modefrequency
has also ascaling
behaviour :L-15 RANDOM WALKS ON PERCOLATION CLUSTERS
and
using (6) :
Taking
b =c~l~a
in ther.h.s.,
one gets apower law :
from which one defines the
spectral dimensionality
d-
asd-
=d ja.
On
regular
Euclideanlattices,
(5)
holds with d =d,
theEuclidean
dimension,
and(2)
implies (7)
with a = 1. Thus the
spectral
dimensiond
isequal
tod, (10)
reducing
to(3),
as it should.In order to prove that a
scaling
relation like(7)
may indeed hold on self-similar structures, anexample
isgiven
below.2.2 EXAMPLE: SIERPINSKI GASKETS. -
The
Sierpinski gaskets
form afamily
of self-similarstructures, which can be built in any Euclidean dimension
(see
Fig.
1,
for d =2)
and which have beenalready
elicited for studies[3-5],
becausethey
lend themselvesparticularly
conveniently
toscaling approaches.
g pp Their fractal dimension iseasily
y found :d
In
(d + 1 )
ln 2’
Starting
from theequations
of motion for elastic vibrations(one
equation
for eachsite),
oneeliminates the
amplitudes corresponding
to the sites located atmid-points
oftriangle
edges
at thelowest scale. This decimation
procedure
leads to a reduced set ofequations, describing
the samephysics
on agasket
scaled(down)
by
a factor b = 2. It turns out that the decimation introduces no newcoupling
constants and leads to asimple
renormalization of thefrequency (appendix).
Thusthe ratio
W2/(02
lssimply replaced by
2 - ~ d + 3 .~a2 co 2 -)
,2
2 2)
co co co0
In the notations
of equation (7),
,_, ’"
and at low
frequency c~o ~
1,
one obtainsFig. 1. - The two-dimensional
(d = 2)
Sierpinski
gasket. The iteration process making the structureself-similar should be
pursued indefinitely.
Thefigure
shows the structure after four stages of iteration froma relation which is cast in the form of
equation
(7)
with :Thus,
exponent a
is obtained :i
and the
spectral
dimension of aSierpinski gasket
in dimension d is :This result may be derived
differently.
We have chosen this derivation for itssimplicity.
Thedensity
of states on agasket
isactually
ahighly
singular
function offrequency [6]
and thelow
frequency
behaviour describedby equation (10)
is a smoothedexpression,
to be used inintegrals,
such asthose
involved in thecomputation
of thermodynamic quantities
at lowtempera-tures.
2.3
INEQUALITIES
BETWEEN DIMENSIONS. - It iseasy to check that the three dimensions
(d,
d, d),
calculated above for thefamily of Sierpinski gaskets,
are ordered as follows :The
equalities
hold for d =1,
which is thebaby
of thefamily.
Whend increases, d
grows
mono-tonically
and isunbounded,
whereasd
approaches
its upper bound2=2.
The double
inequality
(14)
appears to holdgenerally (there
is nocounter-example
that we knowof).
It would beuseful,
for various reasons which will become clearerlater,
to know afamily
offractals,
assimple
as thegaskets,
whered
would not be restricted to values smaller than 2.3. Random walks. - Classical diffusion and random walks in Euclidean
spaces are a well established field of
physics.
We direct the reader to a recent review[7]
for references.Several
properties
will beexamined,
starting
with the fundamental one : themean-squared
displacement
from theorigin
at time t(or
after Nsteps
on anetwork).
An exponent v is defined from theasymptotic
behaviour :In a Euclidean space, of
dimension d,
it is well known that :independent
of thedimensionality.
Indeed,
the law(15)
is obtained as solution of a diffusionequation,
which isanalogous
to the waveequation
forvibrations,
except
for thereplacement
of asecond
by
a first time derivative.Therefore,
forsimple
dimensional reasons, thecounterpart
ofequation (2)
isequation (15)
with the value(16)
for theexponent.
From the
arguments
developed
in section2,
if on a fractal structureequation (7)
holds,
then itfollows
similarly
that :L-17 RANDOM WALKS ON PERCOLATION CLUSTERS
3.1 SELF-AVOIDING WALKS. -
Expression (17)
implies
that the fractaldimensionality
of a random walk(on
a fractalstructure)
isdR
= -
=2 d
Therefore two such walks willgenerically
v d
cross each other
(or
one walk willself-cross)
if andonly
if 2 dR >
d.
Thiscondition,
which reduceto
d
4,
determines when the excluded volumerestriction,
in aself-avoiding
walk,
is relevant.It is worth
noting
that this conditiondepends only
on thespectral
dimension.3.2 CLOSED WALKS AND SCALING LAWS. - The
probability
of return to theorigin
after Nsteps,
i.e. theprobability
of closed walks oflength
N,
is calledPo.
On a Euclideanlattice,
it iseasy to show
[8]
that :On
fractals,
such as theSierpinski gaskets,
for which(17) holds,
thegeneralization
of(18)
is :More
generally,
it ispossible
to define a set of criticalexponents,
inanalogy
with the Gaussian model ofphase
transitions[8].
Thusexponent
y is defined from the total number of random walks oflength
N and foundequal
to1,
for random walks on fractals as well as on Euclidean lattices.The other
exponents
can be derived from v and y,using
the standardscaling
laws of thetheory
ofphase
transitions. It isinteresting
to note that one of thesescaling
laws,
theJosephson scaling
law :
involves
explicitly
a spacedimensionality.
On a fractal structure, it is the fractaldimensionality d
which enters
(20).
This choice isconsistent
with(19)
since thegeneral expression
forPo
is[8] :
3. 3 NUMBER OF VISITED SITES. - The
average number
SN
of distinct sites visitedduring
anN-step
random walk is aquantity
which has been studied forthirthy
years[7]
on Euclideanlattices and which is of interest for various
problems
(diffusion
in the presence of traps, forins-tance).
It will be
helpful
to recall some established results for theasymptotic
behaviour ofSN
onEuclidean lattices :
where
C,
C’ denotelattice-dependent
numerical factors.The
probability
of eventual return to theorigin,
F = 1 -E,
isequal
tounity
for d 2,
whereas0Flfor~>2.
A
question
arises : which dimension governs the behaviour ofSN
on a fractal lattice ? We arguethat it is the
spectral
dimensiond.
Explicitly,
we claim that :... ~ ~
For Euclidean
lattices, d
= d,
and(24)
is consistent with(22).
Let us introduce the notion of thenumber of accessible sites
EN,
in a random walk of Nsteps.
Thesites,
which areeffectively
acces-sible,
are those located within a radiusRN
of theorigin:
Note that
Po,
theprobability
of return to theorigin
after Nsteps,
given
in(19),
can be recast asPo ~
(EN) -1,
which says that the walker may finditself,
after Nsteps,
anywhere
within theacces-sible cloud.
The number of visited sites
SN
cannot exceed either the number of accessible sitesEN
or thenumber
ofsteps
N. Formula(24)
simply
states that theasymptotic
behaviourof SN
isgoverned by
the lower of these two upper bounds. It appears as the most naturalgeneralization
of formula(23).
We haveproved
itsvalidity
forSierpinski gaskets, using
a decimationprocedure analogous
tothat of the
appendix
for thegenerating
function[7]
of the walk.3.4 LOCALIZATION. - For Euclidean
lattices,
P. B. Allen[91
has discovered aninteresting
analogy
between classical diffusion and quantum localization.Transposing
his results to fractal lattices andusing
(24),
one reaches theprediction
that the#-function
defined in[10],
where
g(L)
is the conductance of asample
of size L shouldtend,
for g large,
toward the limitvalue :
But the conductance of a
Sierpinski gasket
of size L is easy to calculate[3]
and found to scale as :where
hasprecisely
the valuepredicted
in(27).
This lends furthersupport
to the idea thatformulae
(24)
and(27) might
holdgenerally.
For fractalswith d
>2,
amobility edge,
for electronsin a random
potential,
ispredicted
to occur with a localizationlength
exponent vL
=( ~L) -’.
4.
Application
to thepercolation problem
- Thepercolation problem
is also a well establishedfield of
physics
and we direct the reader to[11]
for references.At a
percolation
threshold,
the infinite cluster is a fractalobject.
Therefore,
theconcepts
of theprevious
sections can bebrought
to bear on thephysics
in thevicinity
of apercolation
thresholdand this seems, at the
present
time,
to beperhaps
themajor application.
L-19 RANDOM WALKS ON PERCOLATION CLUSTERS
be
expressed
in terms of the Euclidean dimension d and of criticalexponents
of thepercolation
transition([3p,
vp, indexedby
p forpercolation,
are defined below inequations
(30)
and(34)) :
In order to calculate the
spectral
dimensiond,
we shall use asimple
crossover argument.Slightly
above thepercolation
threshold(Ap
>0),
there is one dominantlength
scale,
thecorre-lation
length
~p :
-For excursions smaller than
~p,
the diffusion law isexpected
to be of the form ofequation
(15)
whereas,
forlarger
excursions,
a standard power law is recovered :The Einstein relation between the
conductivity a(p)
and the diffusion constantD( p)
can be written as :where
P( p)
is the infinite clusterdensity.
In thevicinity
of thepercolation
threshold :(the
exponent t
should not be confused withtime)
andimplying :
Expressing
theequivalence
ofequations (15)
and(31)
for R -~p,
we obtain :which allows for a determination of the random walk exponent v :
and of a characteristic time scale :
The
spectral dimensionality d
of thepercolating
cluster is then derived fromequations (17)
and(37)
as :This
result,
already
present in the work of E. Shender[12],
has been discussed in itsgenerality by
S. Alexander and R. Orbach[5].
Inaddition,
they
have made theinteresting
observation thatd,
asNow formula
(24),
plus
theobservation d
= 3,
lead to asimple
universalprediction
for the mean number of distinct sites visited
during
anN-step
random walk on apercolating
cluster,
in any dimension.Such a remarkable
prediction,
which lends itselfparticularly
well to numericalcheck,
calls for aphysical explanation
which we now present.Consider the
quantity
dSN/dN
which is theprobability
of access to a freshsite,
after Nsteps.
The claim is
that,
on apercolating
cluster which isjust marginally
infinite,
thisprobability
ofescape is of the order of the relative fluctuation in the number of accessible
sites,
due to the randomnature of the
percolation problem
itself :(41)
implies (40).
Another way ofphrasing
the same argument consists indefining
the « open frontier » of the random walk as theproduct
of theprobability
of access to a fresh sitedS~/dN,
by
the number of accessible sites after Nsteps
2~.
It is thenargued
that this open frontier ismarginally equal
to the fluctuation in the number of accessiblesites,
due to the random perco-lation process.Clearly,
this isphysical
intuition,
not a demonstration. Is it exact orjust
a, somewhataccidental-ly,
verygood prediction,
like theFlory
value for thepolymer exponents ?
Here is a valuablechallenge
for futurestudy,
since(40)
via(39)
implies
a relation(the
existence of which has beenlong questioned)
betweendynamic
(t)
and static(!3p, vp)
percolation
exponents.Finally,
the situation above the upper critical dimensionde
= 6 forpercolation requires
discussion.For d > 6,
it isgenerally accepted
that!3p
=1,
vp =
21 I t
=3,
independent
of d.Therefore the random walk
exponent
v isexpected
to stick to thevalue v 6
according
toequation (37).
However it remains an openquestion
whether the dimensions dand d
are constantor linear functions of
d,
for d > 6.Coming
now to transportproperties
on thepercolating
cluster,
wefirstly recognize
that the value of#L given
in(27)
can be recast,using
(39),
asSince
#L permits
a fine measure of thedegree
oflocalisation,
it isinteresting
to compare its valuefor the
percolating
clusters and for theSierpinski gaskets,
as a function of theembedding
Eucli-deandimensionality.
This is shown onfigure
2.Whilst,
forSierpinski gaskets, #L
increasesmonotonically
withd,
figure
2 showsthat,
forpercolating
clusters,
it
isalways
smaller(except
for d =1)
and furthermore it variesessentially
in the
opposite
direction,
#L being
adecreasing
functionof d, for 2 d 6.
This demonstratesclearly
that theSierpinski gaskets
cannot beaccepted
as realisticquantitative
models forper-colating
clusters; instead,
their usefulness lies at aqualitative
level. The fact thatPL,
forper-colating
clusters,
remainsalways
far from its critical valuef3L
= 0 suggests that the localizationin a random
potential
will bealways
strong,
an observation which is consistent with recentresults
[ 13] suggesting
that the threshold for appearance of extended states, in thequantum
percolation problem,
lies not at p~, thepercolation
threshold,
buthigher.
5. Conclusion. - The main content of this
paper is
expressed
in ourequation
(40),
whichsheds a new
light
on the oldpercolation problem.
We havepresented
evidence that thissimple
universal law is close to the truth. Further
study
is necessary to decide whether it is exact or not.L-21 RANDOM WALKS ON PERCOLATION CLUSTERS
Fig. 2. - The
exponent
f3L’
defined in equation (28), characterizes the sizedependence
of the conductance. It isplotted
here as a function of the Euclidean dimension dfor three families of structures. Curve (1), dashed : Euclidean lattice. Curve (2) :Sierpinski gaskets.
Curve (3) :percolating
clusters. For this last curve, thetangent at d = 6 can be obtained from an s = 6 - d
expansion : ~L
° = - 2+ 5 s
[using
equation
(42) 21and reference
[ 11 ]].
Acknowledgments.
- Discussions with R. Orbach and J. Vannimenusare
gratefully
acknow-ledged.
Appendix :
Recursionequations
for lattice vibrations on aSierpinski gasket.
- We derive firstthe recursion
equations
for the two-dimensional(d
=2)
Sierpinski gasket (Fig.
1).
Identicalmasses m are located at the sites of the
lattice,
joined by springs
ofstrength
K. Let us denoteFig.
3. -Principle of the decimation procedure, used in the
appendix,
to derive the recursion relations for elastic vibrations on a two-dimensionalSierpinski
gasket.the reduced
squared
frequency
and{
X j
e‘~’‘ }
theeigenstates
associated with a mode offre-quency w.
The set of
equations
of motion for themid-points
of the lower lefttriangle
(in
Fig.
3)
is :where 6 denotes a
neighbouring
site of x,(resp.
X2,X3).
The
corresponding equation
forX
1(or
Z1 )
is :Using
(A .1 ),
one extracts x, , X2, X3 as functions of{ Xi }
and the same for{ zi ~
as functionsof
{ Zl ~. Inserting
these values in(A. 2),
one obtains a newequation
whereX
t is a function ofX2, X3
andZ2, Z3.
This relation can be cast in the form of the firstequation (A .1 ),
with the renormalization :For
general
valueof
the dimensiond,
one obtains after a rather cumbersomealgebra
thesimple
generalization :
References
[1] MANDELBROT, B. B., Fractals : Form, Chance and Dimension (Freeman, San Francisco) 1977.
[2]
DE GENNES, P. G., La Recherche 7 (1976) 919 ;MITESCU, C. D., OTTAVI, H., ROUSSENQ, J., AIP
Conf.
Proc. 40 (1979) 377 ;STRALEY, J. P., J.
Phys.
C 13(1980)
2991.[3]
GEFEN, Y., AHARONY, A., MANDELBROT, B. B., KIRKPATRICK, S.,Phys.
Rev. Lett. 47 (1981) 1771.[4]
RAMMAL, R., TOULOUSE, G.,Phys.
Rev. Lett. 49 (1982) 1194.[5]
ALEXANDER, S., ORBACH, R., J.Physique
Lett. 43 (1982) L-625.[6] RAMMAL, R., to be
published.
[7]
MONTROLL,
E. W., WEST, B. J., in Fluctuation Phenomena, Eds. E. W. Montroll, J. L. Lebowitz(North-Holland) 1979.
[8] See for instance TOULOUSE, G. and PFEUTY, P., Introduction au groupe de renormalisation (PUG)
1975.
[9]
ALLEN, P. B., J.Phys.
C 13(1980)
L-667.[10]
ABRAHAMS, E., ANDERSON, P. W., LICCIARDELLO, D. C. and RAMAKRISHNAN, T. V.,Phys.
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[11]
STAUFFER, D.,Phys.
Reports 54 (1979) 1.[12] SHENDER, E. F., J.