Fluctuations of the empirical quantiles of independent Brownian motions

We consider iid Brownian motions, B_j(t), where B_j(0) has a rapidly decreasing, smooth density function f. The empirical quantiles, or pointwise order statistics, are denoted by B_j:n(t), and we consider a sequence Q_n(t)=B_j(n):n(t), where j(n)/n→α∈(0,1). This sequence converges in probability to q(t), the α-quantile of the law of B_j(t). We first show convergence in law in C[0,∞) of F_n=n^1/2(Q_n−q). We then investigate properties of the limit process F, including its local covariance structure, and Hölder-continuity and variations of its sample paths. In particular, we find that F has the same local properties as fBm with Hurst parameter H=1/4.     

A duality relation for entrance and exit laws for Markov processes

Markov processes X_t on (X, F_X) and Y_t on (Y, F_Y) are said to be dual with respect to the function f(x, y) if E_xf(X_t, y) = E_yf(x, Y_t for all x ? X, y ? Y, t ? 0. It is shown that this duality reverses the role of entrance and exit laws for the processes, and that two previously published results of the authors are dual in precisely this sense. The duality relation for the function f(x, y) = 1_{x<y} is established for one-dimensional diffusions, and several new results on entrance and exit laws for diffusions, birth-death processes, and discrete time birth-death chains are obtained.     

Distribution and characteristic functions for correlated complex Wishart matrices

Let A(t) be a complex Wishart process defined in terms of the M×N complex Gaussian matrix X(t) by A(t)=X(t)X(t)^H. The covariance matrix of the columns of X(t) is Σ. If X(t), the underlying Gaussian process, is a correlated process over time, then we have dependence between samples of the Wishart process. In this paper, we study the joint statistics of the Wishart process at two points in time, t₁, t₂, where t₁<t₂. In particular, we derive the following results: the joint density of the elements of A(t₁), A(t₂), the joint density of the eigenvalues of Σ^-1A(t₁),Σ^-1A(t₂), the characteristic function of the elements of A(t₁), A(t₂), the characteristic function of the eigenvalues of Σ^-1A(t₁),Σ^-1A(t₂). In addition, we give the characteristic functions of the eigenvalues of a central and non-central complex Wishart, and some applications of the results in statistics, engineering and information theory are outlined.     

Exact asymptotics of supremum of a stationary Gaussian process over a random interval

Let {X(t):t∈[0,∞)} be a centered stationary Gaussian process. We study the exact asymptotics of P(sup_s∈[0,T]X(s)>u), as u→∞, where T is an independent of {X(t)} nonnegative random variable. It appears that the heaviness of T impacts the form of the asymptotics, leading to three scenarios: the case of integrable T, the case of T having regularly varying tail distribution with parameter λ∈(0,1) and the case of T having slowly varying tail distribution.     

Besov regularity for the generalized local time of the indefinite Skorohod integral

Let (t∈[0,1]) be the indefinite Skorohod integral on the canonical probability space (Ω,F,P), and let Lt(x) (t∈[0,1], x∈R) be its the generalized local time introduced by Tudor in [C.A. Tudor, Martingale-type stochastic calculus for anticipating integral processes, Bernoulli 10 (2004) 313-325]. We prove that the generalized local time, as function of x, has the same Besov regularity as the Brownian motion, as function of t, under some conditions imposed on the anticipating integrand u.     

Exponential ergodicity and regularity for equations with Lévy noise

We prove exponential convergence to the invariant measure, in the total variation norm, for solutions of SDEs driven by α-stable noises in finite and in infinite dimensions. Two approaches are used. The first one is based on Liapunov’s function approach by Harris, and the second on Doeblin’s coupling argument in [8]. Irreducibility and uniform strong Feller property play an essential role in both approaches. We concentrate on two classes of Markov processes: solutions of finite dimensional equations, introduced in [27], with Hölder continuous drift and a general, non-degenerate, symmetric α-stable noise, and infinite dimensional parabolic systems, introduced in [29], with Lipschitz drift and cylindrical α-stable noise. We show that if the nonlinearity is bounded, then the processes are exponential mixing. This improves, in particular, an earlier result established in [28], with a different method.     

Large time behavior of the heat kernel

In this paper we study the large time behavior of the (minimal) heat kernel k_P^M(x,y,t) of a general time-independent parabolic operator Lu=u_t+P(x,∂_x)u which is defined on a noncompact manifold M. More precisely, we prove that

     

Schauder estimates for a degenerate second order elliptic operator on a cube

In the present article we are concerned with a class of degenerate second order differential operators LA,b defined on the cube d[0,1], with d?1. Under suitable assumptions on the coefficients A and b (among them the assumption of their Hölder regularity) we show that the operator LA,b defined on C²(d[0,1]) is closable and its closure is m-dissipative. In particular, its closure is the generator of a C₀-semigroup of contractions on C(d[0,1]) and C²(d[0,1]) is a core for it. The proof of such result is obtained by studying the solvability in Hölder spaces of functions of the elliptic problem λu(x)−LA,bu(x)=f(x), x∈d[0,1], for a sufficiently large class of functions f.     

The reversibility and an SPDE for the generalized Fleming–Viot processes with mutation

The (Ξ,A)$(\Xi ,A)$-Fleming–Viot process with mutation is a probability-measure-valued process whose moment dual is similar to that of the classical Fleming–Viot process except that Kingman’s coalescent is replaced by the Ξ$\Xi$-coalescent, the coalescent with simultaneous multiple collisions. We first prove the existence of such a process for general mutation generator A$A$. We then investigate its reversibility. We also study both the weak and strong uniqueness of the solution to the associated stochastic partial differential equation.     

Measure concentration for a class of random processes

Summary.   Let X={X _i } _{i =−∞} ^∞ be a stationary random process with a countable alphabet and distribution q. Let q ^∞(·|x _{− k} ⁰) denote the conditional distribution of X ^∞=(X ₁,X ₂,…,X _n ,…) given the k-length past:

A conditional dichotomy theorem for stochastic processes with independent increments

Let X(t) and Y(t) be two stochastically continuous processes with independent increments over [0, T] and Lévy spectral measures M_t and N_t, respectively, and let the “time-jump” measures M and N be defined over [0, T] × $\text{R}$?{0} by M((t₁, t₂] × A) = M_t2(A) ? M_t1(A) and N((T₁, t₂] × A) = N_t2(A) ? N_t1(A). Under the assumption that M is equivalent to N, it is shown that the measures induced on function space by X(t) and Y(t) are either equivalent or orthogonal, and necessary and sufficient conditions for equivalence are given. As a corollary a complete characterization of the set of admissible translates of such processes is obtained: a function f is an admissible translate for X(t) if and only if it is an admissible translate for the Gaussian component of X(t). In particular, if X(t) has no Gaussian component, then every nontrivial translate of X(t) is orthogonal to it.     

Multivariate generalized Ornstein–Uhlenbeck processes

De Haan and Karandikar (1989) [7] introduced generalized Ornstein–Uhlenbeck processes as one-dimensional processes _(Vt)t≥0${\left(V_t\right)}_{t\ge 0}$ which are basically characterized by the fact that for each h>0$h>0$ the equidistantly sampled process _(Vnh)n∈N0${\left(V_{nh}\right)}_{n\in {\mathbb{N}}_0}$ satisfies the random recurrence equation _Vnh=_{A(n−1)h,nhV(n−1)h}+_B(n−1)h,nh$V_{nh}=A_{(n-1)h,nh}{V}_{(n-1)h}+B_{(n-1)h,nh}$, n∈N$n\in \mathbb{N}$, where _{(A(n−1)h,nh,B(n−1)h,nh)n∈N}${(A_{(n-1)h,nh},B_{(n-1)h,nh})}_{n\in \mathbb{N}}$ is an i.i.d. sequence with positive _A0,h$A_{0,h}$ for each h>0$h>0$. We generalize this concept to a multivariate setting and use it to define multivariate generalized Ornstein–Uhlenbeck (MGOU) processes which occur to be characterized by a starting random variable and some Lévy process (X,Y)$(X,Y)$ in R^m×m×R^m${\mathbb{R}}^{m\times m}\times {\mathbb{R}}^m$. The stochastic differential equation an MGOU process satisfies is also derived. We further study invariant subspaces and irreducibility of the models generated by MGOU processes and use this to give necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of strictly stationary MGOU processes under some extra conditions.     

Diffusion approximations of age-and-position dependent branching processes

By a (G, F, h) age-and-position dependent branching process we mean a process in which individuals reproduce according to an age dependent branching process with age distribution function G(t) and offspring distribution generating function F, the individuals (located in R^N) can not move and the distance of a new individual from its parent is governed by a probability density function h(r). For each positive integer n, let Z_n(t,dx) be the number of individuals in dx at time t of the (G, F_n,h_n) age-and-position dependent branching process. It is shown that under appropriate conditions on G, F_n and h_n, the finite dimensional distribution of $\text{Z}{}_{\mathrm{n}}\text{(nt, dx)}\text{n}$ converges, as n → ∞, to the corresponding law of a diffusion continuous state branching process X(t,dx) determined by a ψ-semigroup {ψ_t: t ? 0}. The ψ-semigroup {ψ_t} is the solution of a non-linear evolution equation. A semigroup convergence theorem due to Kurtz [10], which gives conditions for convergence in distribution of a sequence of non-Markovian processes to a Markov process, provides the main tools.     

On diffusivity of a tagged particle in asymmetric zero-range dynamics

Consider a distinguished, or tagged particle in zero-range dynamics on Zd with rate g whose finite-range jump probabilities p possess a drift ∑jp(j)≠0. We show, in equilibrium, that the variance of the tagged particle position at time t is at least order t in all d?1, and at most order t in d=1 and d?3 for a wide class of rates g. Also, in d=1, when the jump distribution p is totally asymmetric and nearest-neighbor, and the rate g(k) increases, and g(k)/k either decreases or increases with k, we show the diffusively scaled centered tagged particle position converges to a Brownian motion with a homogenized diffusion coefficient in the sense of finite-dimensional distributions. Some characterizations of the tagged particle variance are also given.     

Almost automorphic solutions to nonautonomous semilinear evolution equations in Banach spaces

This paper is concerned with almost automorphy of the solutions to a nonautonomous semilinear evolution equation u^′(t)=A(t)u(t)+f(t,u(t)) in a Banach space with a Stepanov-like almost automorphic nonlinear term. We establish a composition theorem for Stepanov-like almost automorphic functions. Furthermore, we obtain some existence and uniqueness theorems for almost automorphic solutions to the nonautonomous evolution equation, by means of the evolution family and the exponential dichotomy. Some results in this paper are new even if A(t) is time independent.     

On the sequence of Bayesian estimates of normal random walk process

Let (μ_t)^∞_t=0 be a k-variate (k?1) normal random walk process with successive increments being independently distributed as normal N(δ, R), and μ₀ being distributed as normal N(0, V₀). Let X_t have normal distribution N(μ_t, Σ) when μ_t is given, t = 1, 2,….Then the conditional distribution of μ_t given X₁, X₂,…, X_t is shown to be normal N(U_t, V_t) where U_t's and V_t's satisfy some recursive relations. It is found that there exists a positive definite matrix V and a constant θ, 0 < θ < 1, such that, for all t?1,

$\text{|R}\text{1}\text{2}\text{(V}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}{}_{\mathrm{t}}\text{?V}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}\text{R}\text{1}\text{2}\text{|<θ}{}^{\mathrm{t}}\text{|R}\text{1}\text{2}\text{(V}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}{}_0\text{?V}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}\text{)R}\text{1}\text{2}\text{|}$

where the norm |·| means that |A| is the largest eigenvalue of a positive definite matrix A. Thus, V_t approaches to V as t approaches to infinity. Under the quadratic loss, the Bayesian estimate of μ_t is U_t and the process {U_t}^∞_t=₀, U₀=0, is proved to have independent successive increments with normal N(θ, V_t?V_t+1+R) distribution. In particular, when V₀ =V then V_t = V for all t and {U_t}^∞_t=0 is the same as {μ_t}^∞_t=0 except that U₀ = 0 and μ₀ is random.