Scaling functions for nonequilibrium fluctuations: A picture gallery

Abstract

The emergence of non-gaussian distributions for macroscopic quantities in nonequilibrium steady states is discussed with emphasis on the effective criticality and on the ensuing universality of distribution functions. The following problems are treated in more detail: nonequilibrium interface fluctuations (the problem of upper critical dimension of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation), roughness of signals displaying Gaussian 1/f power spectra (the relationship to extreme-value statistics), effects of boundary conditions (randomness of the digits of pi).

Invited contribution at SPIE conference on Fluctuations and Noise, Santa Fe, 2003; 9 pages, 6 figures

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