Watersheds are Schramm-Loewner Evolution curves
Statistical Mechanics
2012-12-04 v2
Abstract
We show that in the continuum limit watersheds dividing drainage basins are Schramm-Loewner Evolution (SLE) curves, being described by one single parameter . Several numerical evaluations are applied to ascertain this. All calculations are consistent with SLE, with , being the only known physical example of an SLE with . This lies outside the well-known duality conjecture, bringing up new questions regarding the existence and reversibility of dual models. Furthermore it constitutes a strong indication for conformal invariance in random landscapes and suggests that watersheds likely correspond to a logarithmic Conformal Field Theory (CFT) with central charge .
Cite
@article{arxiv.1206.3159,
title = {Watersheds are Schramm-Loewner Evolution curves},
author = {E. Daryaei and N. A. M. Araujo and K. J. Schrenk and S. Rouhani and H. J. Herrmann},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1206.3159},
year = {2012}
}
Comments
5 pages and 4 figures