We review two methods used to approach the condensation of defects phenomenon. Analyzing in details their structure, we show that in the limit where the defects proliferate until occupy the whole space these two methods are dual equivalent prescriptions to obtain an effective theory for the phase where the defects (like monopoles or vortices) are completely condensed, starting from the fundamental theory defined in the normal phase where the defects are diluted.Comment: 7 pages, major modifications. Version accepted for publication in Physics Letters

The Recent Fluid Deformation Closure (RFDC) model of lagrangian turbulence is recast in pathintegral language within the framework of the Martin-Siggia-Rose functional formalism. In order to derive analytical expressions for the velocity-gradient probability distribution functions (vgPDFs), we carry out noise renormalization in the low-frequency regime and find approximate extrema for the Martin-Siggia-Rose effective action. We verify, with the help of Monte Carlo simulations, that the vgPDFs so obtained yield a close description of the single-point statistical features implied by the original RFDC stochastic differential equations.

The role of instantons is investigated in the Lagrangian model for the velocity gradient evolution known as the Recent Fluid Deformation (RFD) approximation. After recasting the model into the pathintegral formalism, the probability distribution function (pdf) is computed along with the most probable path in the weak noise limit through the saddle-point approximation. Evaluation of the instanton solution is implemented numerically by means of the iteratively Chernykh-Stepanov method. In the case of the longitudinal velocity gradient statistics, due to symmetry reasons, the number of degrees of freedom can be reduced to one, allowing the pdf to be evaluated analytically as well, thereby enabling a prediction of the scaling of the moments as a function of Reynolds number. It is also shown that the instanton solution lies in the Vieillefosse line concerning the RQ-plane. We illustrate how instantons can be unveiled in the stochastic dynamics performing a conditional statistics.