The Edwards–Wilkinson model revisited: large-scale simulations of dynamic scaling in 2+1 dimensions

Using extensive simulations of surface growth in the 2+1 dimensional atomistic model of Edwards and Wilkinson (EW), we have calculated both interfacial width and the structure factor, to extract the dynamic exponent z. In contrast to theoretical expectations, finite-size scaling of the data for both surface properties is achieved using z∼1.63, instead of the predicted value of 2.0. A restricted variant of the EW model gives z∼2.0. Clarifying these non-trivial differences in dynamical correlations, now represents an intriguing theoretical challenge.