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Concept
Percolation critical exponents
Summary
In the context of the physical and mathematical theory of percolation, a percolation transition is characterized by a set of universal critical exponents, which describe the fractal properties of the percolating medium at large scales and sufficiently close to the transition. The exponents are universal in the sense that they only depend on the type of percolation model and on the space dimension. They are expected to not depend on microscopic details such as the lattice structure, or whether site or bond percolation is considered. This article deals with the critical exponents of random percolation.
Percolating systems have a parameter which controls the occupancy of sites or bonds in the system. At a critical value , the mean cluster size goes to infinity and the percolation transition takes place. As one approaches , various quantities either diverge or go to a constant value by a power law in , and the exponent of that power law is the critical exponent. While the exponent of that power law is generally the same on both sides of the threshold, the coefficient or "amplitude" is generally different, leading to a universal amplitude ratio.
Thermodynamic or configurational systems near a critical point or a continuous phase transition become fractal, and the behavior of many quantities in such circumstances is described by universal critical exponents. Percolation theory is a particularly simple and fundamental model in statistical mechanics which has a critical point, and a great deal of work has been done in finding its critical exponents, both theoretically (limited to two dimensions) and numerically.
Critical exponents exist for a variety of observables, but most of them are linked to each other by exponent (or scaling) relations. Only a few of them are independent, and the choice of the fundamental exponents depends on the focus of the study at hand. One choice is the set motivated by the cluster size distribution, another choice is motivated by the structure of the infinite cluster.
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Ontological neighbourhood
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Percolation threshold
The percolation threshold is a mathematical concept in percolation theory that describes the formation of long-range connectivity in random systems. Below the threshold a giant connected component does not exist; while above it, there exists a giant component of the order of system size. In engineering and coffee making, percolation represents the flow of fluids through porous media, but in the mathematics and physics worlds it generally refers to simplified lattice models of random systems or networks (graphs), and the nature of the connectivity in them.
Critical exponent
Critical exponents describe the behavior of physical quantities near continuous phase transitions. It is believed, though not proven, that they are universal, i.e. they do not depend on the details of the physical system, but only on some of its general features. For instance, for ferromagnetic systems, the critical exponents depend only on: the dimension of the system the range of the interaction the spin dimension These properties of critical exponents are supported by experimental data.
Percolation theory
In statistical physics and mathematics, percolation theory describes the behavior of a network when nodes or links are added. This is a geometric type of phase transition, since at a critical fraction of addition the network of small, disconnected clusters merge into significantly larger connected, so-called spanning clusters. The applications of percolation theory to materials science and in many other disciplines are discussed here and in the articles Network theory and Percolation (cognitive psychology).