Effective Velocities in the Toda Lattice

Abstract

In this paper we consider the Toda lattice $(\boldsymbol{p}(t); \boldsymbol{q}(t))$ at thermal equilibrium, meaning that its variables $(p_i)$ and $(e^{q_i-q_{i+1}})$ are independent Gaussian and Gamma random variables, respectively. This model can be thought of a dense collection of many ``quasiparticles'' that act as solitons. We establish a law of large numbers for the trajectory of these quasiparticles, showing that they travel with approximately constant velocities, which are explicit. Our proof is based on a direct analysis of the asymptotic scattering relation, an equation (proven in previous work of the author) that approximately governs the dynamics of quasiparticles locations. This makes use of a regularization argument that essentially linearizes this relation, together with concentration estimates for the Toda lattice's (random) Lax matrix.