Gaussian Random Measures Generated by Berry's Nodal Sets

Abstract

We consider vectors of random variables, obtained by restricting the length of the nodal set of Berry's random wave model to a finite collection of (possibly overlapping) smooth compact subsets of $\mathbb{R}^2$. Our main result shows that, as the energy diverges to infinity and after an adequate normalisation, these random elements converge in distribution to a Gaussian vector, whose covariance structure reproduces that of a homogeneous independently scattered random measure. A by-product of our analysis is that, when restricted to rectangles, the dominant chaotic projection of the nodal length field weakly converges to a standard Wiener sheet, in the Banach space of real-valued continuous mappings over a fixed compact set. An analogous study is performed for complex-valued random waves, in which case the nodal set is a locally finite collection of random points.