On the distribution of the nodal sets of random spherical harmonics

DOI10.1063/1.3056589zbMATH Open1200.58021arXiv0805.2768OpenAlexW3098155800MaRDI QIDQ3650892FDOQ3650892

Authors: Igor Wigman 

Publication date: 7 December 2009

Published in: Journal of Mathematical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We study the length of the nodal set of eigenfunctions of the Laplacian on the $spheredim$-dimensional sphere. It is well known that the eigenspaces corresponding to $eigval=n(n+spheredim-1)$ are the spaces $eigspc$ of spherical harmonics of degree $n$, of dimension $eigspcdim$. We use the multiplicity of the eigenvalues to endow $eigspc$ with the Gaussian probability measure and study the distribution of the $spheredim$-dimensional volume of the nodal sets of a randomly chosen function. The expected volume is proportional to $sqrteigval$. One of our main results is bounding the variance of the volume to be $O(fraceigvalsqrteigspcdim)$. In addition to the volume of the nodal set, we study its Leray measure. For every $n$, the expected value of the Leray measure is $frac1sqrt2pi$. We are able to determine that the asymptotic form of the variance is $fracconsteigspcdim$.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/0805.2768

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zbMATH Keywords

varianceGaussian probability measureeigenvalues and eigenfunctionseigenfunctions of the LaplacianLeray measurelength of the nodal set

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Laplace operator, Helmholtz equation (reduced wave equation), Poisson equation (35J05) Spherical harmonics (33C55) Asymptotic distributions of eigenvalues in context of PDEs (35P20) Spectral problems; spectral geometry; scattering theory on manifolds (58J50)

Cites Work

• On the volume of nodal sets for eigenfunctions of the Laplacian on the torus
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• Real and complex zeros of Riemannian random waves
• Nodal sets of eigenfunctions on Riemannian manifolds
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• Über Knoten von Eigenfunktionen des Laplace-Beltrami-Operators
• Über die Länge der Knotenlinien schwingender Membranen. (On the length of the nodal lines of vibrating membranes.)
• Statistics of nodal lines and points in chaotic quantum billiards: perimeter corrections, fluctuations, curvature

Cited In (29)

• A reduction principle for the critical values of random spherical harmonics
• On the correlation of critical points and angular trispectrum for random spherical harmonics
• High-frequency asymptotics for Lipschitz-Killing curvatures of excursion sets on the sphere
• On the correlation between nodal and nonzero level sets for random spherical harmonics
• Monochromatic Random Waves for General Riemannian Manifolds
• Almost-sure asymptotics for Riemannian random waves
• On the limiting behaviour of needlets polyspectra
• Local universality for zeros and critical points of monochromatic random waves
• Fluctuations of the nodal length of random spherical harmonics
• Expected number and height distribution of critical points of smooth isotropic Gaussian random fields
• Equidistribution of the conormal cycle of random nodal sets
• Metric properties in the mean of polynomials on compact isotropy irreducible homogeneous spaces
• Ergodicity and Gaussianity for spherical random fields
• A quantitative central limit theorem for the excursion area of random spherical harmonics over subdomains of S2
• On the nodal structures of random fields: a decade of results
• Nodal length fluctuations for arithmetic random waves
• The defect variance of random spherical harmonics
• Asymptotic behaviour of level sets of needlet random fields
• On the expected Betti numbers of the nodal set of random fields
• Quadratic variations for Gaussian isotropic random fields on the sphere
• Scalar curvature and \(Q\)-curvature of random metrics
• No smooth phase transition for the nodal length of band-limited spherical random fields
• The Leray measure of nodal sets for random eigenfunctions on the torus
• Nodal Sets of Random Eigenfunctions for the Isotropic Harmonic Oscillator
• Critical points of multidimensional random Fourier series: variance estimates
• Limiting behavior for the excursion area of band-limited spherical random fields
• Nodal lengths in shrinking domains for random eigenfunctions on \(S^2\)
• Restriction of 3D arithmetic Laplace eigenfunctions to a plane
• Remarks on nodal volume statistics for regular and chaotic wave functions in various dimensions

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