Fluctuations of isolated and confined surface steps of monoatomic height
  The temporal evolution of equilibrium fluctuations for surface steps of monoatomic height is analyzed studying one-dimensional solid-on-solid models. Using Monte Carlo simulations, fluctuations due to periphery-diffusion (PD) as well as due to evaporation-condensation (EC) are considered, both for isolated steps and steps confined by the presence of straight steps. For isolated steps, the dependence of the characteristic power-laws, their exponents and prefactors, on temperature, slope, and curvature is elucidated, with the main emphasis on PD, taking into account finite-size effects. The entropic repulsion due to a second straight step may lead, among others, to an interesting transient power-law like growth of the fluctuations, for PD. Findings are compared to results of previous Monte Carlo simulations and predictions based, mostly, on scaling arguments and Langevin theory. 
Walter Selke
cond-mat.stat-mech