arXiv subjects

Gregory Schehr

Publications and source records attributed to Gregory Schehr.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

Exact short-time height distribution in 1D KPZ equation and edge fermions at high temperature

We consider the early time regime of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation in $1+1$ dimensions in curved (or droplet) geometry. We show that for short time $t$, the probability distribution $P(H,t)$ of the height $H$ at a given point $x$ takes the scaling form $P(H,t) \sim \exp{\left(-Φ_{\rm drop}(H)/\sqrt{t} \right)}$ where the rate function $Φ_{\rm drop}(H)$ is computed exactly. While it is Gaussian in the center, i.e., for small $H$, the PDF has highly asymmetric non-Gaussian tails which we characterize in detail. This function $Φ_{\rm drop}(H)$ is surprisingly reminiscent of the large deviation function describing the stationary fluctuations of finite size models belonging to the KPZ universality class. Thanks to a recently discovered connection between KPZ and free fermions, our results have interesting implications for the fluctuations of the rightmost fermion in a harmonic trap at high temperature and the full couting statistics at the edge.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2017

Record statistics of a strongly correlated time series: random walks and Lévy flights

We review recent advances on the record statistics of strongly correlated time series, whose entries denote the positions of a random walk or a Lévy flight on a line. After a brief survey of the theory of records for independent and identically distributed random variables, we focus on random walks. During the last few years, it was indeed realized that random walks are a very useful "laboratory" to test the effects of correlations on the record statistics. We start with the simple one-dimensional random walk with symmetric jumps (both continuous and discrete) and discuss in detail the statistics of the number of records, as well as of the ages of the records, i.e., the lapses of time between two successive record breaking events. Then we review the results that were obtained for a wide variety of random walk models, including random walks with a linear drift, continuous time random walks, constrained random walks (like the random walk bridge) and the case of multiple independent random walkers. Finally, we discuss further observables related to records, like the record increments, as well as some questions raised by physical applications of record statistics, like the effects of measurement error and noise.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Statistics of the maximal distance and momentum in a trapped Fermi gas at low temperature

We consider $N$ non-interacting fermions in an isotropic $d$-dimensional harmonic trap. We compute analytically the cumulative distribution of the maximal radial distance of the fermions from the trap center at zero temperature. While in $d=1$ the limiting distribution (in the large $N$ limit), properly centered and scaled, converges to the squared Tracy-Widom distribution of the Gaussian Unitary Ensemble in Random Matrix Theory, we show that for all $d>1$, the limiting distribution converges to the Gumbel law. These limiting forms turn out to be universal, i.e., independent of the details of the trapping potential for a large class of isotropic trapping potentials. We also study the position of the right-most fermion in a given direction in $d$ dimensions and, in the case of a harmonic trap, the maximum momentum, and show that they obey similar Gumbel statistics. Finally, we generalize these results to low but finite temperature.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Exact distributions of cover times for $N$ independent random walkers in one dimension

We study the probability density function (PDF) of the cover time $t_c$ of a finite interval of size $L$, by $N$ independent one-dimensional Brownian motions, each with diffusion constant $D$. The cover time $t_c$ is the minimum time needed such that each point of the entire interval is visited by at least one of the $N$ walkers. We derive exact results for the full PDF of $t_c$ for arbitrary $N \geq 1$, for both reflecting and periodic boundary conditions. The PDFs depend explicitly on $N$ and on the boundary conditions. In the limit of large $N$, we show that $t_c$ approaches its average value $\langle t_c \rangle \approx L^2/(16\, D \, \ln N)$, with fluctuations vanishing as $1/(\ln N)^2$. We also compute the centered and scaled limiting distributions for large $N$ for both boundary conditions and show that they are given by nontrivial $N$-independent scaling functions.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Non-interacting fermions at finite temperature in a $d$-dimensional trap: universal correlations

We study a system of $N$ non-interacting spin-less fermions trapped in a confining potential, in arbitrary dimensions $d$ and arbitrary temperature $T$. The presence of the trap introduces an edge where the average density of fermions vanishes. Far from the edge, near the center of the trap (the so called "bulk regime"), physical properties of the fermions have traditionally been understood using the Local Density Approximation. However, this approximation drastically fails near the edge where the density vanishes. In this paper we show that, even near the edge, novel universal properties emerge, independently of the details of the confining potential. We show that for large $N$, these fermions in a confining trap, in arbitrary dimensions and at finite temperature, form a determinantal point process. As a result, any $n$-point correlation function can be expressed as an $n \times n$ determinant whose entry is called the kernel. Near the edge, we derive the large $N$ scaling form of the kernels. In $d=1$ and $T=0$, this reduces to the so called Airy kernel, that appears in the Gaussian Unitary Ensemble (GUE) of random matrix theory. In $d=1$ and $T>0$ we show a remarkable connection between our kernel and the one appearing in the $1+1$-dimensional Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation at finite time. Consequently our result provides a finite $T$ generalization of the Tracy-Widom distribution, that describes the fluctuations of the rightmost fermion at $T=0$. In $d>1$ and $T \geq 0$, while the connection to GUE no longer holds, the process is still determinantal whose analysis provides a new class of kernels, generalizing the $1d$ Airy kernel at $T=0$ obtained in random matrix theory. Some of our finite temperature results should be testable in present-day cold atom experiments, most notably our detailed predictions for the temperature dependence of the fluctuations near the edge.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

First Gap Statistics of Long Random Walks with Bounded Jumps

We study one-dimensional discrete as well as continuous time random walks, either with a fixed number of steps (for discrete time) $n$ or on a fixed time interval $T$ (for continuous time). In both cases, we focus on symmetric probability distribution functions (PDF) of jumps with a finite support $[-g_{max}, g_{max}]$. For continuous time random walks (CTRWs), the waiting time $τ$ between two consecutive jumps is a random variable whose probability distribution (PDF) has a power law tail $Ψ(τ) \propto τ^{-1-γ}$, with $0<γ<1$. We obtain exact results for the joint statistics of the gap between the first two maximal positions of the random walk and the time elapsed between them. We show that for large $n$ (or large time $T$ for CTRW), this joint PDF reaches a stationary joint distribution which exhibits an interesting concentration effect in the sense that a gap close to its maximum possible value, $g\approx g_{max}$, is much more likely to be achieved by two successive jumps rather than by a long walk between the first two maxima. Our numerical simulations confirm this concentration effect.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Exact statistics of record increments of random walks and Lévy flights

We study the statistics of increments in record values in a time series $\{x_0=0,x_1, x_2, \ldots, x_n\}$ generated by the positions of a random walk (discrete time, continuous space) of duration $n$ steps. For arbitrary jump length distribution, including Lévy flights, we show that the distribution of the record increment becomes stationary, i.e., independent of $n$ for large $n$, and compute it explicitly for a wide class of jump distributions. In addition, we compute exactly the probability $Q(n)$ that the record increments decrease monotonically up to step $n$. Remarkably, $Q(n)$ is universal (i..e., independent of the jump distribution) for each $n$, decaying as $Q(n) \sim {\cal A}/\sqrt{n}$ for large $n$, with a universal amplitude ${\cal A} = e/\sqrtπ = 1.53362\ldots$.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Large deviations for the height in 1D Kardar-Parisi-Zhang growth at late times

We study the atypically large deviations of the height $H \sim {\cal O}(t)$ at the origin at late times in $1+1$-dimensional growth models belonging to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class. We present exact results for the rate functions for the discrete single step growth model, as well as for the continuum KPZ equation in a droplet geometry. Based on our exact calculation of the rate functions we argue that models in the KPZ class undergo a third order phase transition from a strong coupling to a weak coupling phase, at late times.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Exact extreme value statistics at mixed order transitions

We study extreme value statistics (EVS) for spatially extended models exhibiting mixed order phase transitions (MOT). These are phase transitions which exhibit features common to both first order (discontinuity of the order parameter) and second order (diverging correlation length) transitions. We consider here the truncated inverse distance squared Ising (TIDSI) model which is a prototypical model exhibiting MOT, and study analytically the extreme value statistics of the domain lengths. The lengths of the domains are identically distributed random variables except for the global constraint that their sum equals the total system size $L$. In addition, the number of such domains is also a fluctuating variable, and not fixed. In the paramagnetic phase, we show that the distribution of the largest domain length $l_{\max}$ converges, in the large $L$ limit, to a Gumbel distribution. However, at the critical point (for a certain range of parameters) and in the ferromagnetic phase, we show that the fluctuations of $l_{\max}$ are governed by novel distributions which we compute exactly. Our main analytical results are verified by numerical simulations.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Number statistics for $β$-ensembles of random matrices: applications to trapped fermions at zero temperature

Let $\mathcal{P}_β^{(V)} (N_{\cal I})$ be the probability that a $N\times N$ $β$-ensemble of random matrices with confining potential $V(x)$ has $N_{\cal I}$ eigenvalues inside an interval ${\cal I}=[a,b]$ of the real line. We introduce a general formalism, based on the Coulomb gas technique and the resolvent method, to compute analytically $\mathcal{P}_β^{(V)} (N_{\cal I})$ for large $N$. We show that this probability scales for large $N$ as $\mathcal{P}_β^{(V)} (N_{\cal I})\approx \exp\left(-βN^2 ψ^{(V)}(N_{\cal I} /N)\right)$, where $β$ is the Dyson index of the ensemble. The rate function $ψ^{(V)}(k_{\cal I})$, independent of $β$, is computed in terms of single integrals that can be easily evaluated numerically. The general formalism is then applied to the classical $β$-Gaussian (${\cal I}=[-L,L]$), $β$-Wishart (${\cal I}=[1,L]$) and $β$-Cauchy (${\cal I}=[-L,L]$) ensembles. Expanding the rate function around its minimum, we find that generically the number variance ${\rm Var}(N_{\cal I})$ exhibits a non-monotonic behavior as a function of the size of the interval, with a maximum that can be precisely characterized. These analytical results, corroborated by numerical simulations, provide the full counting statistics of many systems where random matrix models apply. In particular, we present results for the full counting statistics of zero temperature one-dimensional spinless fermions in a harmonic trap.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Record statistics for random walk bridges

We investigate the statistics of records in a random sequence $\{x_B(0)=0,x_B(1),\cdots, x_B(n)=x_B(0)=0\}$ of $n$ time steps. The sequence $x_B(k)$'s represents the position at step $k$ of a random walk `bridge' of $n$ steps that starts and ends at the origin. At each step, the increment of the position is a random jump drawn from a specified symmetric distribution. We study the statistics of records and record ages for such a bridge sequence, for different jump distributions. In absence of the bridge condition, i.e., for a free random walk sequence, the statistics of the number and ages of records exhibits a `strong' universality for all $n$, i.e., they are completely independent of the jump distribution as long as the distribution is continuous. We show that the presence of the bridge constraint destroys this strong `all $n$' universality. Nevertheless a `weaker' universality still remains for large $n$, where we show that the record statistics depends on the jump distributions only through a single parameter $0<μ\le 2$, known as the Lévy index of the walk, but are insensitive to the other details of the jump distribution. We derive the most general results (for arbitrary jump distributions) wherever possible and also present two exactly solvable cases. We present numerical simulations that verify our analytical results.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2016

Large time zero temperature dynamics of the spherical p=2-spin glass model of finite size

We revisit the long time dynamics of the spherical fully connected $p = 2$-spin glass model when the number of spins $N$ is large but {\it finite}. At $T=0$ where the system is in a (trivial) spin-glass phase, and on long time scale $t \gtrsim {\cal O}{(N^{2/3})}$ we show that the behavior of physical observables, like the energy, correlation and response functions, is controlled by the density of near-extreme eigenvalues at the edge of the spectrum of the coupling matrix $J$, and are thus non self-averaging. We show that the late time decay of these observables, once averaged over the disorder, is controlled by new universal exponents which we compute exactly.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2016

Universal ground state properties of free fermions in a $d$-dimensional trap

The ground state properties of $N$ spinless free fermions in a $d$-dimensional confining potential are studied. We find that any $n$-point correlation function has a simple determinantal structure that allows us to compute several properties exactly for large $N$. We show that the average density has a finite support with an edge, and near this edge the density exhibits a universal (valid for a wide class of potentials) scaling behavior for large $N$. The associated edge scaling function is computed exactly and generalizes to any $d$ the edge electron gas result of Kohn and Mattsson in $d=3$ [Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 3487 (1998)]. In addition, we calculate the kernel (that characterizes any $n$-point correlation function) for large $N$ and show that, when appropriately scaled, it depends only on dimension $d$, but has otherwise universal scaling forms, at the edges. The edge kernel, for higher $d$, generalizes the Airy kernel in one dimension, well known from random matrix theory.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2015

Finite temperature free fermions and the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation at finite time

We consider the system of $N$ one-dimensional free fermions confined by a harmonic well $V(x) = mω^2 {x^2}/{2}$ at finite inverse temperature $β= 1/T$. The average density of fermions $ρ_N(x,T)$ at position $x$ is derived. For $N \gg 1$ and $β\sim {\cal O}(1/N)$, $ρ_N(x,T)$ is given by a scaling function interpolating between a Gaussian at high temperature, for $β\ll 1/N$, and the Wigner semi-circle law at low temperature, for $β\gg N^{-1}$. In the latter regime, we unveil a scaling limit, for $β{\hbar ω}= b N^{-1/3}$, where the fluctuations close to the edge of the support, at $x \sim \pm \sqrt{2\hbar N/(mω)}$, are described by a limiting kernel $K^{\rm ff}_b(s,s')$ that depends continuously on $b$ and is a generalization of the Airy kernel, found in the Gaussian Unitary Ensemble of random matrices. Remarkably, exactly the same kernel $K^{\rm ff}_b(s,s')$ arises in the exact solution of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation in 1+1 dimensions at finite time $t$, with the correspondence $t= b^3$.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2015

Random walk with random resetting to the maximum

We study analytically a simple random walk model on a one-dimensional lattice, where at each time step the walker resets to the maximum of the already visited positions (to the rightmost visited site) with a probability $r$, and with probability $(1-r)$, it undergoes symmetric random walk, i.e., it hops to one of its neighboring sites, with equal probability $(1-r)/2$. For $r=0$, it reduces to a standard random walk whose typical distance grows as $\sqrt{n}$ for large $n$. In presence of a nonzero resetting rate $0<r\le 1$, we find that both the average maximum and the average position grow ballistically for large $n$, with a common speed $v(r)$. Moreover, the fluctuations around their respective averages grow diffusively, again with the same diffusion coefficient $D(r)$. We compute $v(r)$ and $D(r)$ explicitly. We also show that the probability distribution of the difference between the maximum and the location of the walker, becomes stationary as $n\to \infty$. However, the approach to this stationary distribution is accompanied by a dynamical phase transition, characterized by a weakly singular large deviation function. We also show that $r=0$ is a special `critical' point, for which the growth laws are different from the $r\to 0$ case and we calculate the exact crossover functions that interpolate between the critical $(r=0)$ and the off-critical $(r\to 0)$ behavior for finite but large $n$.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2015

On the Gap and Time Interval between the First Two Maxima of Long Continuous Time Random Walks

We consider a one-dimensional continuous time random walk (CTRW) on a fixed time interval $T$ where at each time step the walker waits a random time $τ$, before performing a jump drawn from a symmetric continuous probability distribution function (PDF) $f(η)$, of Lévy index $0 < μ\leq 2$. Our study includes the case where the waiting time PDF $Ψ(τ)$ has a power law tail, $Ψ(τ) \propto τ^{-1 - γ}$, with $0< γ< 1$, such that the average time between two consecutive jumps is infinite. The random motion is sub-diffusive if $γ< μ/2$ (and super-diffusive if $γ> μ/2$). We investigate the joint PDF of the gap $g$ between the first two highest positions of the CTRW and the time $t$ separating these two maxima. We show that this PDF reaches a stationary limiting joint distribution $p(g,t)$ in the limit of long CTRW, $T \to \infty$. Our exact analytical results show a very rich behavior of this joint PDF in the $(γ, μ)$ plane, which we study in great detail. Our main results are verified by numerical simulations. This work provides a non trivial extension to CTRWs of the recent study in the discrete time setting by Majumdar et al. (J. Stat. Mech. P09013, 2014).

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2015

Finite N corrections to the limiting distribution of the smallest eigenvalue of Wishart complex matrices

We study the probability distribution function (PDF) of the smallest eigenvalue of Laguerre-Wishart matrices $W = X^\dagger X$ where $X$ is a random $M \times N$ ($M \geq N$) matrix, with complex Gaussian independent entries. We compute this PDF in terms of semi-classical orthogonal polynomials, which are deformations of Laguerre polynomials. By analyzing these polynomials, and their associated recurrence relations, in the limit of large $N$, large $M$ with $M/N \to 1$ -- i.e. for quasi-square large matrices $X$ -- we show that this PDF, in the hard edge limit, can be expressed in terms of the solution of a Painlevé III equation, as found by Tracy and Widom, using Fredholm operators techniques. Furthermore, our method allows us to compute explicitly the first $1/N$ corrections to this limiting distribution at the hard edge. Our computations confirm a recent conjecture by Edelman, Guionnet and Péché. We also study the soft edge limit, when $M-N \sim {\cal O}(N)$, for which we conjecture the form of the first correction to the limiting distribution of the smallest eigenvalue.

math-ph↗

arXiv2015

The density of eigenvalues seen from the soft edge of random matrices in the Gaussian beta-ensembles

We characterize the phenomenon of "crowding" near the largest eigenvalue $λ_{\max}$ of random $N \times N$ matrices belonging to the Gaussian $β$-ensemble of random matrix theory, including in particular the Gaussian orthogonal ($β=1$), unitary ($β=2$) and symplectic ($β= 4$) ensembles. We focus on two distinct quantities: (i) the density of states (DOS) near $λ_{\max}$, $ρ_{\rm DOS}(r,N)$, which is the average density of eigenvalues located at a distance $r$ from $λ_{\max}$ (or the density of eigenvalues seen from $λ_{\max}$) and (ii) the probability density function of the gap between the first two largest eigenvalues, $p_{\rm GAP}(r,N)$. Using heuristic arguments as well as well numerical simulations, we generalize our recent exact analytical study of the Hermitian case (corresponding to $β= 2$). We also discuss some applications of these two quantities to statistical physics models.

math-ph↗