Experimental determination of KPZ height-fluctuation distributions

Height-fluctuation distributions of nonequilibrium interfaces were analyzed using slow-combustion fronts propagating in sheets of paper. All distributions measured were definitely non-Gaussian. The experimental distributions for transient and stationary regimes were well fitted by the theoretical distributions proposed by Prähofer and Spohn in reference [9]. Consistent with the Galilean invariance of the system, the same distributions were found for horizontal fronts and, when determined along the normal to the slope, for fronts with a non-zero average slope. Copyright EDP Sciences/Società Italiana di Fisica/Springer-Verlag 2005