{
  "abstract": "The symmetric exclusion process (SEP) is a paradigmatic model of interacting particle transport. Its current--density correlations are governed by an infinite many-body hierarchy of equations. Only recently, this hierarchy was found to collapse at large scales onto a single closed equation. Is this remarkable simplification created by coarse graining, or does it reflect a deeper property already present in the microscopic dynamics? Here we show that the second scenario is realized. At arbitrary time on the lattice, the entire hierarchy collapses onto a single linear equation which is exactly equivalent to a persistence problem for a single auxiliary random walker. Thus an interacting many-body problem reduces exactly to a genuine one-body problem before any scaling limit is taken. This reduction determines the complete finite-time correlation profile, including during nonequilibrium relaxation. More broadly, the microscopic operator uncovered here opens a route to more general correlation functions in the SEP, and may point to a general organizing principle for nonequilibrium interacting particle systems.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.18626",
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Olivier Bénichou"
    },
    {
      "name": "Aurélien Grabsch"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/aye08f45s246v.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.18626",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "aye08f45s246v",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.18626",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "cond-mat.stat-mech"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2610|Stochastic processes and statistical mechanics"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7221825848",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.18626",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-13",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/aye08f45s246v.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:29:11Z",
      "native_id": "2610.18626",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.18626"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:cond-mat.stat-mech",
      "subfield": "statistical-nonlinear"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Exact Microscopic One-Body Reduction in the Symmetric Exclusion Process",
  "title_text": "Exact Microscopic One-Body Reduction in the Symmetric Exclusion Process",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:29:11Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/aye08f45s246v",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}