{
  "abstract": "Conservative nonlinear waves generally undergo an irreversible process of thermalization toward the Rayleigh--Jeans (RJ) equilibrium state. Light thermalization has recently been experimentally investigated in the two-dimensional transverse spatial dynamics of multimode waveguides. Here, we consider the one-dimensional temporal dynamics of incoherent light propagating in a weakly birefringent single-mode fiber. We show that light thermalization is responsible for a self-polarization of the incoherent wave during its propagation. Within the framework of wave turbulence theory, we show that this phenomenon originates from a nonequilibrium process of adiabatic cooling: polarization fluctuations are continuously transferred toward the high-frequency tails of a local RJ equilibrium state, whose effective temperature decreases during propagation, thereby increasing the degree of light polarization. Moreover, in the absence of a high-frequency cut-off that would regularize the ultraviolet catastrophe in the temporal domain, the optical wave exhibits an ever-increasing degree of polarization, ultimately approaching unity. These results show that it is thermodynamically advantageous for the optical field to evolve toward a polarized state, which provides new insight into spontaneous self-organization phenomena in conservative Hamiltonian systems operating far from thermodynamic equilibrium.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.23061",
  "author_total": 10,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "L. Zanaglia"
    },
    {
      "name": "J. Garnier"
    },
    {
      "name": "M. Ferraro"
    },
    {
      "name": "T. Torres"
    },
    {
      "name": "C. Michel"
    },
    {
      "name": "V. Doya"
    },
    {
      "name": "G. Millot"
    },
    {
      "name": "S. Wabnitz"
    },
    {
      "name": "I. Carusotto"
    },
    {
      "name": "Antonio Picozzi"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0d2mek6d03xcc.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.23061",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "0d2mek6d03xcc",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://hal.science/hal-05806235v1",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.optics"
    ],
    [
      "hal",
      "0.phys"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3109|Nonlinear Waves and Solitons"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7222957928",
  "pdf_url": "https://hal.science/hal-05806235/document",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-16",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0d2mek6d03xcc.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:59Z",
      "native_id": "hal-05806235",
      "source": "hal",
      "url": "https://hal.science/hal-05806235v1"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:30:32Z",
      "native_id": "2610.23061",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.23061"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.optics",
      "subfield": "optics-photonics"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Thermalization-induced self-polarization of temporally incoherent light: A nonequilibrium wave turbulence kinetic approach",
  "title_text": "Thermalization-induced self-polarization of temporally incoherent light: A nonequilibrium wave turbulence kinetic approach",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:33:28Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0d2mek6d03xcc",
  "venue": "HAL",
  "versions": []
}