On end-point distribution for directed polymers and related problems for randomly forced Burgers equation.

In this paper, we study several problems related to the theory of randomly forced Burgers equation. Our numerical analysis indicates that despite the localization effects the quenched variance of the endpoint distribution for directed polymers in the strong disorder regime grows as the polymer length [Formula: see text]. We also present numerical results in support of the 'one force-one solution' principle. This article is part of the theme issue 'Scaling the turbulence edifice (part 2)'.

On a Factorization Formula for the Partition Function of Directed Polymers.

We prove a factorization formula for the point-to-point partition function associated with a model of directed polymers on the space-time lattice Zd+1. The polymers are subject to a random potential induced by independent identically distributed random variables and we consider the regime of weak disorder, where polymers behave diffusively. We show that when writing the quotient of the point-to-point partition function and the transition probability for the underlying random walk as the product of two point-to-line partition functions plus an error term, then, for large time intervals [0, t], the error term is small uniformly over starting points x and endpoints y in the sub-ballistic regime ‖x-y‖≤tσ, where σ<1 can be arbitrarily close to 1. This extends a result of Sinai, who proved smallness of the error term in the diffusive regime ‖x-y‖≤t1/2. We also derive asymptotics for spatial and temporal correlations of the field of limiting partition functions.

Point fields of last passage percolation and coalescing fractional Brownian motions.

We consider large-scale point fields which naturally appear in the context of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) phenomenon. Such point fields are geometrical objects formed by points of mass concentration, and by shocks separating the sources of these points. We introduce similarly defined point fields for processes of coalescing fractional Brownian motions (cfBMs). The case of the Hurst index 2/3 is of particular interest for us since, in this case, the power law of the density decay is the same as that in the KPZ phenomenon. In this paper, we present strong numerical evidence that statistical properties of points fields in these two different settings are very similar. We also discuss theoretical arguments in support of the conjecture that they are exactly the same in the large-time limit. This would indicate that two objects may, in fact, belong to the same universality class.

Particle dynamics inside shocks in Hamilton-Jacobi equations.

The characteristic curves of a Hamilton-Jacobi equation can be seen as action-minimizing trajectories of fluid particles. For non-smooth 'viscosity' solutions, which give rise to discontinuous velocity fields, this description is usually pursued only up to the moment when trajectories hit a shock and cease to minimize the Lagrangian action. In this paper we show that, for any convex Hamiltonian, there exists a uniquely defined canonical global non-smooth coalescing flow that extends particle trajectories and determines the dynamics inside shocks. We also provide a variational description of the corresponding effective velocity field inside shocks, and discuss the relation to the 'dissipative anomaly' in the limit of vanishing viscosity.

Ballistic deposition patterns beneath a growing Kardar-Parisi-Zhang interface.

We consider a (1+1)-dimensional ballistic deposition process with next-nearest-neighbor interactions, which belongs to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class. The focus of our analysis is on the properties of structures appearing in the bulk of a growing aggregate: a forest of independent clusters separated by "crevices." Competition for growth (mutual screening) between different clusters results in "thinning" of this forest, i.e., the number density c(h) of clusters decreases with the height h of the pattern. For the discrete stochastic equation describing the process we introduce a variational formulation similar to that used for the randomly forced continuous Burgers equation. This allows us to identify the "clusters" and crevices with minimizers and shocks in the Burgers turbulence. Capitalizing on the ideas developed for the latter process, we find that c(h) ∼ h(-α) with α=2/3. We compute also scaling laws that characterize the ballistic deposition patterns in the bulk: the law of transversal fluctuations of cluster boundaries and the size distribution of clusters. It turns out that the intercluster interface is superdiffusive: the corresponding exponent is twice as large as the KPZ exponent for the surface of the aggregate. Finally we introduce a probabilistic concept of ballistic growth, dubbed the "hairy" Airy process in view of its distinctive geometric features. Its statistical properties are analyzed numerically.