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Title: Exact roughness exponent of KPZ surfaces in 2+1 dimensions
Plain: For a growing two-dimensional surface, height fluctuations grow with system size as a power law with exponent $\alpha$. Simulations give $\alpha$ near 0.39, but no theory derives it.
Precise: For the KPZ equation dh/dt = nu lap h + (lambda/2)(grad h)^2 + eta(x,t) with Gaussian white noise eta in $d = 2$ spatial dimensions, determine the roughness exponent $\alpha$ (with $z = 2 - \alpha$ from Galilean invariance) exactly or to $10^{-4}$, and decide whether it is a simple rational number. Large simulations give $\alpha$ approximately 0.387 to 0.39; the conjecture $\alpha = 2/5$ is disfavored.
Settled by: An exact solution, or a nonperturbative RG computation with controlled error, agreeing with simulations to $10^{-4}$.
Kind: well-posed
Answer type: value
References: (empty)
Literature status: open
Status note: (empty)
Posed since: 1986