Universality classification of restricted solid-on-solid type surface growth models

We consider the restricted solid-on-solid (RSOS) type surface growth models and classify them into dynamic universality classes according to their symmetry and conservation law. Four groups of RSOS-type microscopic models—asymmetric (A), asymmetric-conserved (AC), symmetric (S), and symmetric-conserved (SC) groups—are introduced and the corresponding stochastic differential equations (SDEs) are derived. Analyzing these SDEs using dynamic renormalization group theory, we confirm the previous results that A-RSOS, AC-RSOS, and S-RSOS groups belong to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang class, the Villain–Lai–Das Sarma class, and the Edwards-Wilkinson class, respectively. We also find that SC-RSOS group belongs to a new universality class featuring the conserved-cubic nonlinearity.