Pinning and wetting transition for (1\(+\)1)-dimensional fields with Laplacian interaction (Q2519687)

The authors consider two models for a \((1+1)\)-dimensional random field. Both are models for a linear chain of length \(N\), attracted to a defect line. The first one is the so-called pinning model: the interaction with the defect line is introduced by giving to the field a reward \(\varepsilon\geq 0\) each time it touches the defect line, the \(x\)-axis. The second one is the wetting model: in addition to the pinning reward the field is also constrained to stay nonnegative. The authors study the behavior of these models as \(N\to\infty\). For both models, there exists a critical value \(\varepsilon_c\) such that when \(\varepsilon>\varepsilon_c\) the field touches the defect line a positive fraction of times (localization). The critical values for the pinning model and for the wetting model are nontrivial and distinct (\(\varepsilon_c\) for pinnig is smaller) and they are the only nonanalyticity points of the respective free energies. For the pinning model the transition is of second order, while for the wetting model is of first order. The authors uses a precise pathwise description of the field based on the Markov renewal theory.