The effect of a drift term in the presence of fixed boundaries is studied for the one-dimensional Edwards-Wilkinson equation, to reveal a general mechanism that causes a change of exponents for a very broad class of growth processes. This mechanism represents a relevant perturbation and therefore is important for the interpretation of experimental and numerical results. In effect, the mechanism leads to the roughness exponent assuming the same value as the growth exponent. In the case of the Edwards-Wilkinson equation this implies exponents deviating from those expected by dimensional analysis.

• Received 15 December 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.246101