CROSSOVER FROM ISOTROPIC TO DIRECTED PERCOLATION

Directed percolation is one of the generic universality classes for dynamic processes. We study the crossover from isotropic to directed percolation by representing the combined problem as a random cluster model, with a parameter $r$ controlling the spontaneous birth of new forest fires. We obtain the exact crossover exponent $y_{DP}=y_T-1$ at $r=1$ using Coulomb gas methods in 2D. Isotropic percolation is stable, as is confirmed by numerical finite-size scaling results. For $D \geq 3$, the stability seems to change. An intuitive argument, however, suggests that directed percolation at $r=0$ is unstable and that the scaling properties of forest fires at intermediate values of $r$ are in the same universality class as isotropic percolation, not only in 2D, but in all dimensions.