Velocity fluctuations in forced Burgers turbulence

We propose a simple method to compute the velocity difference statistics in forced Burgers turbulence in any dimension. Within a reasonnable assumption concerning the nucleation and coalescence of shocks, we find in particular that the `left' tail of the distribution decays as an inverse square power, which is compatible with numerical data. Our results are compared to those of various recent approaches: instantons, operator product expansion, replicas.Comment: 10 pages latex, one postcript figur

Solitons and diffusive modes in the noiseless Burgers equation: Stability analysis

The noiseless Burgers equation in one spatial dimension is analyzed from the point of view of a diffusive evolution equation in terms of nonlinear soliton modes and linear diffusive modes. The transient evolution of the profile is interpreted as a gas of right hand solitons connected by ramp solutions with superposed linear diffusive modes. This picture is supported by a linear stability analysis of the soliton mode. The spectrum and phase shift of the diffusive modes are determined. In the presence of the soliton the diffusive modes develop a gap in the spectrum and are phase-shifted in accordance with Levinson's theorem. The spectrum also exhibits a zero-frequency translation or Goldstone mode associated with the broken translational symmetry.Comment: 9 pages, Revtex file, 5 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.

The Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation in the weak noise limit: Pattern formation and upper critical dimension

We extend the previously developed weak noise scheme, applied to the noisy Burgers equation in 1D, to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation for a growing interface in arbitrary dimensions. By means of the Cole-Hopf transformation we show that the growth morphology can be interpreted in terms of dynamically evolving textures of localized growth modes with superimposed diffusive modes. In the Cole-Hopf representation the growth modes are static solutions to the diffusion equation and the nonlinear Schroedinger equation, subsequently boosted to finite velocity by a Galilei transformation. We discuss the dynamics of the pattern formation and, briefly, the superimposed linear modes. Implementing the stochastic interpretation we discuss kinetic transitions and in particular the properties in the pair mode or dipole sector. We find the Hurst exponent H=(3-d)/(4-d) for the random walk of growth modes in the dipole sector. Finally, applying Derrick's theorem based on constrained minimization we show that the upper critical dimension is d=4 in the sense that growth modes cease to exist above this dimension.Comment: 27 pages, 19 eps figs, revte

Minimum action method for the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation

We apply a numerical minimum action method derived from the Wentzell-Freidlin theory of large deviations to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation for a growing interface. In one dimension we find that the switching scenario is determined by the nucleation and subsequent propagation of facets or steps, corresponding to moving domain walls or growth modes in the underlying noise driven Burgers equation. The transition scenario is in accordance with recent analytical studies of the one dimensional Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation in the asymptotic weak noise limit. We also briefly discuss transitions in two dimensions.Comment: 26 pages (revtex) and 18 figures (eps