English

Nontrivial Exponent for Simple Diffusion

Condensed Matter 2009-10-28 v2

Abstract

The diffusion equation \partial_t\phi = \nabla^2\phi is considered, with initial condition \phi( _x_ ,0) a gaussian random variable with zero mean. Using a simple approximate theory we show that the probability p_n(t_1,t_2) that \phi( _x_ ,t) [for a given space point _x_ ] changes sign n times between t_1 and t_2 has the asymptotic form p_n(t_1,t_2) \sim [\ln(t_2/t_1)]^n(t_1/t_2)^{-\theta}. The exponent \theta has predicted values 0.1203, 0.1862, 0.2358 in dimensions d=1,2,3, in remarkably good agreement with simulation results.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9605084,
  title  = {Nontrivial Exponent for Simple Diffusion},
  author = {Satya N. Majumdar and Clement Sire and Alan J. Bray and Stephen J. Cornell},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9605084},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

Minor typos corrected, affecting table of exponents. 4 pages, REVTEX, 1 eps figure. Uses epsf.sty and multicol.sty