The scaling limit of the KPZ equation in space dimension 3 and higher

TL;DR

This paper rigorously analyzes the large-scale behavior of the KPZ equation in three or more dimensions, demonstrating that in the perturbative regime it converges to a linear Edwards-Wilkinson model with renormalized parameters.

Contribution

It provides a rigorous proof of the diffusive limit of the KPZ equation in higher dimensions using renormalization group techniques and perturbative expansions.

Findings

Large-scale limit of KPZ matches a linear model with renormalized coefficients

Solution can be expressed as a small perturbation of the Edwards-Wilkinson model

Renormalized parameters differ from original by quadratic order in small coupling

Abstract

We study in the present article the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation $$ \partial_t h(t,x)=\nu\Delta h(t,x)+\lambda |\nabla h(t,x)|^2 +\sqrt{D}\, \eta(t,x), \qquad (t,x)\in\mathbb{R}_+\times\mathbb{R}^d $$ in $d\ge 3$ dimensions in the perturbative regime, i.e. for $\lambda>0$ small enough and a smooth, bounded, integrable initial condition $h_0=h(t=0,\cdot)$. The forcing term $\eta$ in the right-hand side is a regularized space-time white noise. The exponential of $h$ -- its so-called Cole-Hopf transform -- is known to satisfy a linear PDE with multiplicative noise. We prove a large-scale diffusive limit for the solution, in particular a time-integrated heat-kernel behavior for the covariance in a parabolic scaling. The proof is based on a rigorous implementation of K. Wilson's renormalization group scheme. A double cluster/momentum-decoupling expansion allows for perturbative estimates of the bare resolvent of the Cole-Hopf linear PDE in the small-field region where the noise is not too large, following the broad lines of Iagolnitzer-Magnen. Standard large deviation estimates for $\eta$ make it possible to extend the above estimates to the large-field region. Finally, we show, by resumming all the by-products of the expansion, that the solution $h$ may be written in the large-scale limit (after a suitable Galilei transformation) as a small perturbation of the solution of the underlying linear Edwards-Wilkinson model ($\lambda=0$) with renormalized coefficients $\nu_{eff}=\nu+O(\lambda^2),D_{eff}=D+O(\lambda^2)$.