title: Searching for the Tracy-Widom distribution in nonequilibrium processes.
abstract: While originally discovered in the context of the Gaussian unitary ensemble, the Tracy-Widom distribution also rules the height fluctuations of growth processes. This suggests that there might be other nonequilibrium processes in which the Tracy-Widom distribution plays an important role. In our contribution we study one-dimensional systems with domain wall initial conditions. For an appropriate choice of parameters, the profile develops a rarefaction wave while maintaining the initial equilibrium states far to the left and right, which thus serve as infinitely extended thermal reservoirs. For a Fermi-Pasta-Ulam type anharmonic chain, we will demonstrate that the time-integrated current has a deterministic contribution, linear in time t, and fluctuations of size t^{1/3} with a Tracy-Widom distributed random amplitude.
authors.affiliation: Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Christian B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Mendl
authors.affiliation: Zentrum Mathematik and Physik Department, Technische Universität München, Boltzmannstraße 3, 85747 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Spohn