The persistence exponent for the simple diffusion equation , with random Gaussian initial condition, has been calculated exactly using a method known as selective averaging. The probability that the value of the field at a specified spatial coordinate remains positive throughout for a certain time t behaves as for asymptotically large time t. The value of , calculated here for any integer dimension d, is for and 1 otherwise. This exact theoretical result is being reported possibly for the first time and is not in agreement with the accepted values for respectively.
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