Possible Statistics of Scale Invariant Systems

A relativity postulate states the equivalence of rationalized systems of units, constructed as power laws of the scale '. In a scale invariant system, described by a random physical eld , this relativity selects the set of similarity transformations coupling ' and . Acceptable transformations are classied into six possible groups, according to two dimensionless parameters: an exponent C characteristic of the physical system, and describing the small scale / large scale symmetry breaking. Symmetry severely constrains the successive moments of , and hence the shape of its probability distribution. For instance, the Newtonian case C=! 1 corresponds to self-similar statistics, the ultra-relativistic case C= ! 0 to deterministic elds, and the case = 1 to a log-Poisson statistics. These cases are applied to hydrodynamical turbulence in the companion paper.