Vicinal surfaces, fractional statistics, and universality

Abstract

We propose that the phases of all vicinal surfaces can be characterized by four fixed lines, in the renormalization group sense, in a three-dimensional space of coupling constants. The observed configurations of several Si surfaces are consistent with this picture. One of these fixed lines also describes one-dimensional quantum particles with fractional exclusion statistics. The featureless steps of a vicinal surface can therefore be thought of as a realization of fractional-statistics particles, possibly with additional short-range interactions.