Critical and umbilical points of a non-Gaussian random field.

Random fields in nature often have, to a good approximation, Gaussian characteristics. For such fields, the number of maxima and minima are the same. Furthermore, the relative densities of umbilical points, topological defects which can be classified into three types, have certain fixed values. Phenomena described by nonlinear laws can, however, give rise to a non-Gaussian contribution, causing a deviation from these universal values. We consider a random surface, whose height is given by a nonlinear function of a Gaussian field. We find that, as a result of the non-Gaussianity, the density of maxima and minima no longer match and we calculate the relative imbalance between the two. We also calculate the change in the relative density of umbilics. This allows us not only to detect a perturbation, but to determine its size as well. This geometric approach offers an independent way of detecting non-Gaussianity, which even works in cases where the field itself can not be probed directly.