Central limit theorems for parabolic stochastic partial differential equations

Abstract: Let ${u(t\,,x)}{t\ge 0, x\in \mathbb{R}^d}$ denote the solution of a $d$-dimensional nonlinear stochastic heat equation that is driven by a Gaussian noise, white in time with a homogeneous spatial covariance that is a finite Borel measure $f$ and satisfies Dalang's condition. We prove two general functional central limit theorems for occupation fields of the form $N^{-d} \int{\mathbb{R}^d} g(u(t\,,x)) \psi(x/N)\, \mathrm{d} x$ as $N\rightarrow \infty$, where $g$ runs over the class of Lipschitz functions on $\mathbb{R}^d$ and $\psi\in L^2(\mathbb{R}^d)$. The proof uses Poincar\'e-type inequalities, Malliavin calculus, compactness arguments, and Paul L\'evy's classical characterization of Brownian motion as the only mean zero, continuous L\'evy process. Our result generalizes central limit theorems of Huang et al \cite{HuangNualartViitasaari2018,HuangNualartViitasaariZheng2019} valid when $g(u)=u$ and $\psi = \mathbf{1}_{[0,1]^d}$.