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Updated: Jun 28, 2025

Method for Recording Broadband High Resolution Emission Spectra of Laboratory Lightning Arcs
Published on: August 27, 2019
Arcsine Laws of Light
V G Ramesh1, K J H Peters1, S R K Rodriguez1
1Center for Nanophotonics, AMOLF, Science Park 104, 1098 XG Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Abstract:
We demonstrate that the time-integrated light intensity transmitted by a coherently driven resonator obeys Lévy's arcsine laws-a cornerstone of extreme value statistics. We show that convergence to the arcsine distribution is algebraic, universal, and independent of nonequilibrium behavior due to nonconservative forces or nonadiabatic driving. We furthermore verify, numerically, that the arcsine laws hold in the presence of frequency noise and in Kerr-nonlinear resonators supporting non-Gaussian states. The arcsine laws imply a weak ergodicity breaking which can be leveraged to enhance the precision of resonant optical sensors with zero energy cost, as shown in our companion manuscript [V. G. Ramesh et al., companion paper, Phys. Rev. Res. (2024).PPRHAI2643-1564]. Finally, we discuss perspectives for probing the possible breakdown of the arcsine laws in systems with memory.
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