Gumbel distribution and current fluctuations in critical systems
Abstract
We investigate a particular phase transition between two different tunneling regimes, direct and injection (Fowler-Nordheim), experimentally observed in the current-voltage characteristics of the light receptor bacteriorhodopsin (bR). Here, the sharp increase of the current above about 3 V is theoretically interpreted as the cross-over between the direct and injection sequential-tunneling regimes. Theory also predicts a very special behaviour for the associated current fluctuations around steady state. We find the remarkable result that in a large range of bias around the transition between the two tunneling regimes, the probability density functions can be traced back to the generalization of the Gumbel distribution. This non-Gaussian distribution is the universal standard to describe fluctuations under extreme conditions.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1204.3411,
title = {Gumbel distribution and current fluctuations in critical systems},
author = {E. Alfinito and J. F. Millithaler and L. Reggiani},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1204.3411},
year = {2012}
}
Comments
Paper submitted to UPoN 2012 (Unsolved Problems on Noise and Fluctuations)