Renewal, Modulation and Superstatistics

Paolo Allegrini, Francesco Barbi, Paolo Grigolini, Paolo Paradisi

Published 2005-03-14, updated 2005-03-16Version 2

We consider two different proposals to generate a time series with the same non-Poisson distribution of waiting times, to which we refer to as renewal and modulation. We show that, in spite of the apparent statistical equivalence, the two time series generate different physical effects. Renewal generates aging and anomalous scaling, while modulation yields no aging and either ordinary or anomalous diffusion, according to the prescription used for its generation. We argue, in fact, that the physical realization of modulation involves critical events, responsible for scaling. In conclusion, modulation rather than ruling out the action of critical events, sets the challenge for their identification.