Gaussian statistics as an emergent symmetry of the stochastic scalar Burgers equation Articles uri icon

publication date

  • April 2019

start page

  • 1

end page

  • 7

issue

  • 4(042108)

volume

  • 99

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 2470-0053

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 2470-0045

abstract

  • Symmetries play a conspicuous role in the large-scale behavior of critical systems. In equilibrium they allow us to classify asymptotics into different universality classes, and out of equilibrium, they sometimes emerge as collective properties which are not explicit in the "bare" interactions. Here we elucidate the emergence of an up-down symmetry in the asymptotic behavior of the stochastic scalar Burgers equation in one and two dimensions, manifested by the occurrence of Gaussian fluctuations even within the time regime controlled by nonlinearities. This robustness of Gaussian behavior contradicts naive expectations due to the detailed relation-including the lack of up-down symmetry-between the Burgers equation and the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation, which paradigmatically displays non-Gaussian fluctuations described by Tracy-Widom distributions. We reach our conclusions via a dynamic renormalization group study of the field statistics, confirmed by direct evaluation of the field probability distribution function from numerical simulations of the dynamical equation.

subjects

  • Mathematics

keywords

  • geometry