Directed surfaces in disordered media

The critical exponents for a class of one-dimensional models of interface depinning in disordered media can be calculated through a mapping onto directed percolation. In higher dimensions these models give rise to directed surfaces, which do not belong to the directed percolation universality class. We formulate a scaling theory of directed surfaces, and calculate critical exponents numerically, using a cellular automaton that locates the directed surfaces without making reference to the dynamics of the underlying interface growth models. © 1996 The American Physical Society.