Scaling-violation anomaly at critical wetting.

Abstract

We present a theory of the three-dimensional critical wetting transition based on the surface-order-parameter interface Hamiltonian ${\mathit{H}}_{2}$[${\mathit{l}}_{1}$,${\mathit{l}}_{2}$] recently used to study complete wetting. A renormalization group analysis highlights a scaling-violation anomaly whereby local structure factors at the wall and unbinding interface are characterized by mean-field and nonuniversal critical exponents, respectively. This reflects the combination of depinning, decoupling, and unbinding that are not properly distinguished in previous models. Comparisons with existing simulation studies are very encouraging. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.