Shape effects in the fluctuations of random isochrones on a square lattice.

Abstract

We consider the isochrone curves in first-passage percolation on a 2D square lattice, i.e., the boundary of the set of points which can be reached in less than a given time from a certain origin. The occurrence of an instantaneous average shape is described in terms of its Fourier components, highlighting a crossover between a diamond and a circular geometry as the noise level is increased. Generally, these isochrones can be understood as fluctuating interfaces with an inhomogeneous local width which reveals the underlying lattice structure. We show that once these inhomogeneities have been taken into account, the fluctuations fall into the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class with very good accuracy, where they reproduce the Family-Vicsek Ansatz with the expected exponents and the Tracy-Widom histogram for the local radial fluctuations.