  The role of memory is crucial in determining the properties of many dynamical
processes in statistical physics. We show that the simple addition of memory,
in the form of noise reduction, modifies the overall scaling behavior of the
voter model, introducing an effective surface tension analogous to that
recently observed in memory-based models of social dynamics. The numerical
results for low-dimensional lattices show a scaling behavior in good agreement
with usual Cahn-Allen curvature-driven coarsening, even though slower
preasymptotic regimes may be observed depending on the memory properties.
Simple arguments and a mean-field analysis provide an explanation for the
observed behavior that clarifies the origin of surface tension and the
mechanism underlying the coarsening process.
