The KPZ equation with flat initial condition and the directed polymer with one free end

We study the directed polymer (DP) of length $t$ in a random potential in dimension 1+1 in the continuum limit, with one end fixed and one end free. This maps onto the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang growth equation in time $t$, with flat initial conditions. We use the Bethe Ansatz solution for the replicated problem which is an attractive bosonic model. The problem is more difficult than the previous solution of the fixed endpoint problem as it requires regularization of the spatial integrals over the Bethe eigenfunctions. We use either a large fixed system length or a small finite slope KPZ initial conditions (wedge). The latter allows to take properly into account non-trivial contributions, which appear as deformed strings in the former. By considering a half-space model in a proper limit we obtain an expression for the generating function of all positive integer moments $\bar{Z^n}$ of the directed polymer partition function. We obtain the generating function of the moments of the DP partition sum as a Fredholm Pfaffian. At large time, this Fredholm Pfaffian, valid for all time $t$, exhibits convergence of the free energy (i.e. KPZ height) distribution to the GOE Tracy Widom distributionComment: 62 page

Closed formula for Wilson loops for SU(N)SU(N) Quantum Yang-Mills Theory in two dimensions

A closed expression of the Euclidean Wilson-loop functionals is derived for pure Yang-Mills continuum theories with gauge groups $SU(N)$ and $U(1)$ and space-time topologies \Rl^1\times\Rl^1 and \Rl^1\times S^1. (For the $U(1)$ theory, we also consider the $S^1\times S^1$ topology.) The treatment is rigorous, manifestly gauge invariant, manifestly invariant under area preserving diffeomorphisms and handles all (piecewise analytic) loops in one stroke. Equivalence between the resulting Euclidean theory and and the Hamiltonian framework is then established. Finally, an extension of the Osterwalder-Schrader axioms for gauge theories is proposed. These axioms are satisfied for the present model.Comment: 31 pages, Latex, no figure

Fluctuations of the vacuum energy density of quantum fields in curved spacetime via generalized zeta functions

For quantum fields on a curved spacetime with an Euclidean section, we derive a general expression for the stress energy tensor two-point function in terms of the effective action. The renormalized two-point function is given in terms of the second variation of the Mellin transform of the trace of the heat kernel for the quantum fields. For systems for which a spectral decomposition of the wave opearator is possible, we give an exact expression for this two-point function. Explicit examples of the variance to the mean ratio $\Delta' = (-^2)/(^2)$ of the vacuum energy density $\rho$ of a massless scalar field are computed for the spatial topologies of $R^d\times S^1$ and $S^3$, with results of $\Delta'(R^d\times S^1) =(d+1)(d+2)/2$, and $\Delta'(S^3) = 111$ respectively. The large variance signifies the importance of quantum fluctuations and has important implications for the validity of semiclassical gravity theories at sub-Planckian scales. The method presented here can facilitate the calculation of stress-energy fluctuations for quantum fields useful for the analysis of fluctuation effects and critical phenomena in problems ranging from atom optics and mesoscopic physics to early universe and black hole physics.Comment: Uses revte

The true reinforced random walk with bias

We consider a self-attracting random walk in dimension d=1, in presence of a field of strength s, which biases the walker toward a target site. We focus on the dynamic case (true reinforced random walk), where memory effects are implemented at each time step, differently from the static case, where memory effects are accounted for globally. We analyze in details the asymptotic long-time behavior of the walker through the main statistical quantities (e.g. distinct sites visited, end-to-end distance) and we discuss a possible mapping between such dynamic self-attracting model and the trapping problem for a simple random walk, in analogy with the static model. Moreover, we find that, for any s>0, the random walk behavior switches to ballistic and that field effects always prevail on memory effects without any singularity, already in d=1; this is in contrast with the behavior observed in the static model.Comment: to appear on New J. Phy

Asymptotic Behaviour of Random Vandermonde Matrices with Entries on the Unit Circle

Analytical methods for finding moments of random Vandermonde matrices with entries on the unit circle are developed. Vandermonde Matrices play an important role in signal processing and wireless applications such as direction of arrival estimation, precoding, and sparse sampling theory, just to name a few. Within this framework, we extend classical freeness results on random matrices with independent, identically distributed (i.i.d.) entries and show that Vandermonde structured matrices can be treated in the same vein with different tools. We focus on various types of matrices, such as Vandermonde matrices with and without uniform phase distributions, as well as generalized Vandermonde matrices. In each case, we provide explicit expressions of the moments of the associated Gram matrix, as well as more advanced models involving the Vandermonde matrix. Comparisons with classical i.i.d. random matrix theory are provided, and deconvolution results are discussed. We review some applications of the results to the fields of signal processing and wireless communications.Comment: 28 pages. To appear in IEEE Transactions on Information Theor