Nodal intersections for random waves on the 3-dimensional torus (Q506596)

Let \(\mathbb{T}^3=\mathbb{R}^3/\mathbb{Z}^3\) be the standard flat \(3\)-dimensional torus and \(\mathcal{C}\subset\mathbb{T}^3\) a fixed reference curve which has nowhere vanishing curvature. Define \[ \mathcal{E}(E)=\big\{\vec x\in \mathbb{Z}^3:\;|\vec x|^2=E\big\} \] and let \(N_E=\# \mathcal{E}(E).\) The eigenfunctions of the Laplacian corresponding to the eigenvalue \(4\pi^2E\) are of the form \[ F(x)=\dfrac{1}{\sqrt{N_E}}\sum_{\mu\in\mathcal{E}(E)} a_\mu e^{2\pi i\langle\mu,x\rangle}. \] Taking the coefficients \(a_\mu\) to be standard complex Gaussian random variables, independent, except for the relation \(a_{-\mu}=\overline{a_\mu},\) makes \(F(x)\) a real-valued random Gaussian eigenfunction (arithmetic random waves in the terminology of [\textit{M. Krishnapur} et al., Ann. Math. (2) 177, No. 2, 699--737 (2013; Zbl 1314.60101)]). The authors investigate the number of nodal intersections \[ \mathcal{Z}(F)=\#\big\{x\in\mathbb{T}^3:\;F(x)=0\big\}\cap \mathcal{C} \] as a function of the corresponding eigenvalue. The expected intersection number is universally proportional to the length of the reference curve, times the wavenumber, independent of the geometry. The main result of the paper gives a bound for the variance if either the torsion of the curve is nowhere zero or if the curve is planar.