Conformal Invariance in Driven Diffusive Systems at High Currents

Abstract

We consider space-time correlations in driven diffusive systems which undergo a fluctuation into a regime with an atypically large current or dynamical activity. For a single conserved mass we show that the spatiotemporal density correlations in one space dimension are fully determined by conformal field theory with central charge c=1, corresponding to a ballistic universality class with dynamical exponent z=1. The full phase diagram for general atypical behavior exhibits the conformally invariant regime and, for atypically low current or activity, a region of phase separation. The phase transition line between these two regimes corresponds to typical behavior and the dynamics belongs to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class with dynamical exponent z=3/2, except for a diffusive point with z=2. The exact universal dynamical structure function is obtained in explicit form from the one-dimensional asymmetric simple exclusion process with periodic and open boundaries in the limit of maximal current.