Large fluctuations of a Kardar-Parisi-Zhang interface on a half-line: the height statistics at a shifted point

Abstract

We consider a stochastic interface $h(x,t)$, described by the $1+1$ Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation on the half-line $x\ge 0$ with the reflecting boundary at $x=0$. The interface is initially flat, $h(x,t=0)=0$. We focus on the short-time probability distribution $\mathcal{P}\left(H,L,t\right)$ of the height $H$ of the interface at point $x=L$. Using the optimal fluctuation method, we determine the (Gaussian) body of the distribution and the strongly asymmetric non-Gaussian tails. We find that the slower-decaying tail scales as $-\sqrt{t}\ln \mathcal{P}\simeq {\left|H\right|}^{3/2}{f}_{-}\left(L/\sqrt{\left|H\right|t}\right)$, and calculate the function $f_{-}(\dots )$ analytically. Remarkably, this tail exhibits a first-order dynamical phase transition at a critical value of $L$, $L_c=0.60223\dots \sqrt{\left|H\right|t}$. The transition results from a competition between two different fluctuation paths of the system. The faster decaying tail scales as $-\sqrt{t}\ln \mathcal{P}\simeq |H{|}^{5/2}{f}_{+}\left(L/\sqrt{|H|t}\right)$. We evaluate the function $f_{+}(\dots )$ using a specially developed numerical method, which involves solving a nonlinear second-order elliptic equation in Lagrangian coordinates. The faster-decaying tail also involves a sharp transition, which occurs at a critical value $L_c\simeq 2\sqrt{2|H|t}/\pi$. This transition is similar to the one recently found for the KPZ equation on a ring, and we believe that it has the same fractional order $5/2$. It is smoothed, however, by small diffusion effects.

15 pages, 13 figures

References in corpus (4)

• The one-dimensional KPZ equation and its universality class
• Optimal fluctuation approach to a directed polymer in a random medium
• Universal and non-universal tails of distribution functions in the directed polymer and KPZ problems
• Exact short-time height distribution in 1D KPZ equation with Brownian initial condition

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• Short-time large deviations of the spatially averaged height of a KPZ interface on a ring
• Nonequilibrium steady state of Brownian motion in an intermittent potential
• Exact short-time height distribution and dynamical phase transition in the relaxation of a Kardar-Parisi-Zhang interface with random initial condition
• Large deviations of the interface height in the Golubović-Bruinsma model of stochastic growth
• Systematic analysis of critical exponents in continuous dynamical phase transitions of weak noise theories
• High moments of the SHE in the clustering regimes