Averaging and renormalization for the Korteveg-deVries-Burgers equation.

We consider traveling wave solutions of the Korteveg-deVries-Burgers equation and set up an analogy between the spatial averaging of these traveling waves and real-space renormalization for Hamiltonian systems. The result is an effective equation that reproduces means of the unaveraged, highly oscillatory, solution. The averaging enhances the apparent diffusion, creating an "eddy" (or renormalized) diffusion coefficient; the relation between the eddy diffusion coefficient and the original diffusion coefficient is found numerically to be one of incomplete similarity, setting up an instance of Barenblatt's renormalization group. The results suggest a relation between self-similar solutions of differential equations on one hand and renormalization groups and optimal prediction algorithms on the other. An analogy with hydrodynamics is pointed out.