Contact process with simultaneous spatial and temporal disorder

We study the absorbing-state phase transition in the one-dimensional contact process under the combined influence of spatial and temporal random disorders. We focus on situations in which the spatial and temporal disorders decouple. Couched in the language of epidemic spreading, this means that some spatial regions are, at all times, more favorable than others for infections, and some time periods are more favorable than others independent of spatial location. We employ a generalized Harris criterion to discuss the stability of the directed percolation universality class against such disorder. We then perform large-scale Monte Carlo simulations to analyze the critical behavior in detail. We also discuss how the Griffiths singularities that accompany the nonequilibrium phase transition are affected by the simultaneous presence of both disorders.

Automated summary

This study investigates the absorbing-state phase transition in the one-dimensional contact process under the influence of spatial and temporal random disorders. The results show that the decoupling of spatial and temporal disorders affects the stability of the directed percolation universality class, and the simultaneous presence of both disorders affects the Griffiths singularities in the nonequilibrium phase transition.