# Scaling for the Percolation Backbone

## Abstract

We study the backbone connecting two given sites of a two-dimensional lattice separated by an arbitrary distance $`r`$ in a system of size $`L`$. We find a scaling form for the average backbone mass: $`M_BL^{d_B}G(r/L)`$, where $`G`$ can be well approximated by a power law for $`0x1`$: $`G(x)x^\psi `$ with $`\psi =0.37\pm 0.02`$. This result implies that $`M_BL^{d_B\psi }r^\psi `$ for the entire range $`0<r<L`$. We also propose a scaling form for the probability distribution $`P(M_B)`$ of backbone mass for a given $`r`$. For $`rL`$, $`P(M_B)`$ is peaked around $`L^{d_B}`$, whereas for $`rL`$, $`P(M_B)`$ decreases as a power law, $`M_B^{\tau _B}`$, with $`\tau _B1.20\pm 0.03`$. The exponents $`\psi `$ and $`\tau _B`$ satisfy the relation $`\psi =d_B(\tau _B1)`$, and $`\psi `$ is the codimension of the backbone, $`\psi =dd_B`$.

PACS numbers: 64.60.Ak, 05.45.Df

The percolation problem is a classical model of phase transitions, as well as a useful model for describing connectivity phenomena, and in particular for describing porous media . At the percolation threshold $`p_c`$, the mass of the largest cluster scales with the system size $`L`$ as $`ML^{d_f}`$. The fractal dimension $`d_f`$ is related to the space dimension $`d`$ and to the order parameter and correlation length exponents $`\beta `$ and $`\nu `$ by $`d_f=d\beta /\nu `$ . In two dimensions, $`d_f=91/48`$ is known exactly.

An interesting subset of the percolation cluster is the backbone which is obtained by removing the non-current carrying bonds from the percolation cluster. The structure of the backbone consists of blobs and links. The backbone can in fact be further partitioned into subsets according to the magnitude of the electric current carried. The backbone is relevant to transport properties  and fracture . The fractal dimension $`d_B`$ of the backbone can be defined via its typical mass $`M_B`$, which scales with the system size $`L`$ as $`M_BL^{d_B}`$. The backbone dimension is an independent exponent and its exact value is not known. A current numerical estimate  is $`d_B=1.6432\pm 0.0008`$.

The operational definition of the backbone has an interesting history. Customarily, one defines the backbone using parallel bars, and looks for the percolation cluster (and the backbone) which connects the two sides of the system. A different situation arises in oil field applications , where one studies the backbone connecting two wells separated by an arbitrary distance $`r`$. This situation is important for transport properties, since in oil recovery one injects water at one point and recovers oil at another point . From a fundamental point of view, it is important to understand how the percolation properties depend on different boundary conditions.

We study here the backbone connecting two points separated by an arbitrary distance $`r`$ in a two-dimensional system of linear size $`L`$. One goal is to understand the distribution of the backbone mass $`M_B(r,L)`$, and how its average value scales with $`r`$ and $`L`$ in the entire range $`0<r<L`$.

We choose two sites $`A`$ and $`B`$ belonging to the infinite percolating cluster on a two-dimensional square lattice (the fraction of bonds is $`p=p_c=1/2`$). $`A`$ and $`B`$ are separated by a distance $`r`$ and symetrically located between the boundaries. Using the burning algorithm, we determine the backbone connecting these two points for values of $`L`$ ranging from $`100`$ to $`1000`$. For each value of $`L`$, we consider a sequence of values of $`r`$ with $`2rL2`$. In order to test the universality of the exponents, we perform our study on three lattices: square, honeycomb and triangular lattice. For simplicity, we restrict our discussion here to the square lattice, as we find similar results for the other two lattices.

We begin by studying the backbone mass probability distribution $`P(M_B)`$. We show that $`P(M_B)`$ obeys a simple scaling form in the entire range of $`r/L`$,

$$P(M_B)\frac{1}{r^{d_B}}F\left(\frac{M_B}{r^{d_B}}\right),$$
(1)   
where $`F(x)`$ is a scaling function, whose shape depends on the ratio $`r/L`$.

For $`rL`$, it seems reasonable to assume that $`P(M_B)`$ will be peaked around its average value $`<M_B>L^{d_B}`$. The data collapse predicted by Eq. (1) is represented in Fig. 1(a). In this case, the scaling function $`F`$ is peaked at approximately $`L^{d_B}`$.

However, the case $`rL`$ is far less clear. In fact, we expect for $`rL`$ that the backbone mass fluctuates greatly from one realization to another, since its minimum value can be $`r`$ and its maximum can be of order $`L^{d_f}`$. Fig. 1(b) shows a log-log plot of $`P(M_B)`$. It has a lower cut-off of order $`r`$ (since the backbone must connect points $`A`$ and $`B`$) and a upper cut-off of order $`L^{d_B}`$. We find good data collapse (Fig. 1(c)), which indicates that the scaling function $`F`$ is a power law in the range from $`r^{d_B}`$ to $`L^{d_B}`$, with exponent approximately $`\tau _B1.20\pm 0.03`$ (there is a cut-off at $`M_BL^{d_B}`$ not shown here). The exponent $`\tau _B`$ is connected to the blob size distribution  since typically, the two sites belong to the same blob, and the sampling of backbones is equivalent to sampling of the blobs. From ,

$$\frac{d}{d_B}=\tau _B.$$
(2)   
This relation gives the estimate $`\tau _B1.22`$ in good agreement with our numerical simulation.

We note that for larger values of $`M_B`$, a “bump” (indicated by an arrow on Fig. 1(b)) located at approximately $`L^{d_B}`$ appears and assumes increasing importance when $`r`$ approaches $`L`$.

We now study the average backbone mass $`M_B`$. From dimensional considerations, the $`r`$ dependence can only be a function of $`r/L`$. We thus propose the following Ansatz:

$$M_B(r,L)=L^{d_B}G\left(\frac{r}{L}\right).$$
(3)   
In Fig. 2(a), we show a double logarithmic scale $`M_B`$ versus $`r`$ for different values of $`L`$. In order to test the Eq. (3), we scale the data of Fig. 2(a). The data collapse is obtained using $`d_B=1.65`$ and is shown on Fig. 2(b). This (log-log) plot supports the scaling Ansatz (3). Moreover, one can see that the scaling function $`G`$ is, surprisingly, a pure power law on the entire range $`[0,1]`$, with exponent $`\psi =0.37\pm 0.02`$.

The results (1) and (3) are consistent, since if (1) holds with a power law behavior for the scaling function $`F(x)x^{\tau _B}`$ for $`x>1`$, and $`F(x)=0`$ for $`x<1`$, then the average mass is given by

$$M_B(r,L)=_r^{L^{d_B}}F\left(\frac{M}{r^{d_B}}\right)\frac{dM}{r^{d_B}}M.$$
(4)   
Assuming that $`L/r`$ is large enough, the integral in (4) can be approximated as $`L^{d_B\psi }r^\psi `$, where

$$\psi =d_B(\tau _B1)$$
(5)   
In our simulation $`\tau _B1.20\pm 0.03`$, which leads to the value $`\psi 0.33\pm 0.05`$ in reasonable agreement with the value measured directly on the average mass.

Moreover, using Eq. (2) together with Eq. (5), we obtain

$$\psi =dd_B$$
(6)   
which means that $`\psi `$ is the codimension of the fractal backbone.

To summarize, we find that for any value of $`r/L`$, the scaling form, Eq. (1), for the probability distribution is valid. The shape of the scaling function $`F`$ depends on $`r/L`$, being a peaked distribution for $`rL`$, and a power law for $`rL`$. The average backbone mass varies with $`r`$ and $`L`$ according to Eq. (4). For fixed system size, it varies as $`M_Br^\psi `$ (for $`0<r<L`$). The value of $`\psi `$ is small ($`\psi 0.37`$) indicating that the backbone mass does not change drastically as $`r`$ changes. On the other hand, the exponent governing the variation of $`M_B`$ with $`L`$ for fixed $`r`$ is expected to be larger, with $`M_Br^{d_B\psi }`$. This exponent $`d_B\psi `$ is not equal to the fractal dimension $`d_B`$ of the backbone, but is smaller by an amount equal to $`\psi `$.

Acknowledgements. We would like to thank P. Gopikrishnan for help with the simulations and L. A. N. Amaral, A. Coniglio, N. V. Dokholyan, Y. Lee, P. R. King and V. Plerou for stimulating discussions. MB thanks the DGA for financial support. The Center for Polymer Studies is supported by the NSF and BP Amoco.