Boundary crossover in semi-infinite non-equilibrium growth processes

The growth of stochastic interfaces in the vicinity of a boundary and the non-trivial crossover towards the behaviour deep in the bulk are analysed. The causal interactions of the interface with the boundary lead to a roughness larger near to the boundary than deep in the bulk. This is exemplified in the semi-infinite Edwards–Wilkinson model in one dimension, from both its exact solution and numerical simulations, as well as from simulations on the semi-infinite one-dimensional Kardar–Parisi–Zhang model. The non-stationary scaling of interface heights and widths is analysed and a universal scaling form for the local height profile is proposed. (paper)