Abstract
We study finite-size scaling of the roughness of signals in systems displaying Gaussian power spectra. It is found that one of the extreme value distributions, the Fisher-Tippett-Gumbel (FTG) distribution, emerges as the scaling function when boundary conditions are periodic. We provide a realistic example of periodic noise, and demonstrate by simulations that the FTG distribution is a good approximation for the case of nonperiodic boundary conditions as well. Experiments on voltage fluctuations in GaAs films are analyzed and excellent agreement is found with the theory.
- Received 31 May 2001
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.240601
©2001 American Physical Society