On the Brownian-directed polymer in a Gaussian random environment

In this paper, we introduce a model of Brownian polymer in a continuous random environment. The asymptotic behavior of the partition function associated to this polymer measure is studied, and we are able to separate a weak and strong disorder regime under some reasonable assumptions on the spatial covariance of the environment. Some further developments, concerning some concentration inequalities for the partition function, are given for the weak disorder regime.     

Localization for branching random walks in random environment

We consider branching random walks in d$d$-dimensional integer lattice with time–space i.i.d. offspring distributions. This model is known to exhibit a phase transition: If d≥3$d\ge 3$ and the environment is “not too random”, then, the total population grows as fast as its expectation with strictly positive probability. If, on the other hand, d≤2$d\le 2$, or the environment is “random enough”, then the total population grows strictly slower than its expectation almost surely. We show the equivalence between the slow population growth and a natural localization property in terms of “replica overlap”. We also prove a certain stronger localization property, whenever the total population grows strictly slower than its expectation almost surely.     

On the equivalence of the static and dynamic points of view for diffusions in a random environment

We study the equivalence of the static and dynamic points of view for diffusions in a random environment in dimension one. First we prove that the static and dynamic distributions are equivalent if and only if either the speed in the law of large numbers does not vanish, or b/a$b/a$ is a.s. the gradient of a stationary function, where a$a$ and b$b$ are the covariance coefficient resp. the local drift attached to the diffusion. We moreover show that the equivalence of the static and dynamic points of view is characterized by the existence of so-called “almost linear coordinates”.     

Slowdown and neutral pockets for a random walk in random environment

We consider a d-dimensional random walk in random environment for which transition probabilities at each site are either neutral or present an effective drift “pointing to the right”. We obtain large deviation estimates on the probability that the walk moves in a too slow ballistic fashion, both under the annealed and quenched measures. These estimates underline the key role of large neutral pockets of the medium in the occurrence of slowdowns of the walk. Received: 12 March 1998 / Revised version: 19 February 1999     

Shift-coupling and a zero-one law for random walk in random environment

This paper discusses several aspects of shift-coupling for random walk in random environment.     

Brownian confinement and pinning in a Poissonian potential. I

Summary We study the behavior of ad dimensional Brownian motion in a soft repulsive Poissonian potential over long time intervals [0,t]. We introduce certaint and configuration dependent scales, which grow almost linearly witht. For typical configurations with probability tending to 1 ast goes to , the size of displacements of the process is bounded above by these scales, (confinement effect). The proof involves calculations beyond leading order. To this end we use a coarse grained picture of the environment (method of enlargement of obstacles) and of the path (a backbone of excursions between clearings and forest parts in the environment). These coarse grained pictures are also used in the sequel [11] to the present article, when proving the pinning effect.This article was processed by the author using the LATEX style filepljour1m from Springer-Verlag.     

Brownian confinement and pinning in a Poissonian potential. II

Summary We continue our study ofd-dimensional Brownian motion in a soft repulsive Poissonian potential over a long time interval [0,t]. We prove here a pinning effect: for typical configuratons, with probability tending to 1 ast tends to , the particle gets trapped close to locations of near minima of certain variational problems. These locations lie at distances growing almost linearly witht from the origin, and the particle gets pinned within distance smaller than any positive power oft of one such location. In dimension 1, we can push further our estimates and show that in a suitable sense, the particle gets trapped with high probability, within time t and within distance (logt)²⁺ from a suitable location at distance of ordert/(logt)³ from the origin.This article was processed by the author using the LATEX style filepljour1m from Springer-Verlag     

Crossing velocities for an annealed random walk in a random potential

We consider a random walk in an i.i.d. non-negative potential on the d-dimensional integer lattice. The walk starts at the origin and is conditioned to hit a remote location y on the lattice. We prove that the expected time under the annealed path measure needed by the random walk to reach y grows only linearly in the distance from y to the origin. In dimension 1 we show the existence of the asymptotic positive speed.     

Properties of the limit shape for some last-passage growth models in random environments

We study directed last-passage percolation on the planar square lattice whose weights have general distributions, or equivalently, queues in series with general service distributions. Each row of the last-passage model has its own randomly chosen weight distribution. We investigate the limiting time constant close to the boundary of the quadrant. Close to the y-axis, where the number of random distributions averaged over stays large, the limiting time constant takes the same universal form as in the homogeneous model. But close to the x-axis we see the effect of the tail of the distribution of the random environment.     

Moments, moderate and large deviations for a branching process in a random environment

Let (Z_n) be a supercritical branching process in a random environment ξ, and W be the limit of the normalized population size Z_n/E[Z_n|ξ]. We show large and moderate deviation principles for the sequence logZ_n (with appropriate normalization). For the proof, we calculate the critical value for the existence of harmonic moments of W, and show an equivalence for all the moments of Z_n. Central limit theorems on W−W_n and logZ_n are also established.     

Surviving particles for subcritical branching processes in random environment

The asymptotic behavior of a subcritical Branching Process in Random Environment (BPRE) starting with several particles depends on whether the BPRE is strongly subcritical (SS), intermediate subcritical (IS) or weakly subcritical (WS). In the (SS+IS) case, the asymptotic probability of survival is proportional to the initial number of particles, and conditionally on the survival of the population, only one initial particle survives a.s$a.s$. These two properties do not hold in the (WS) case and different asymptotics are established, which require new results on random walks with negative drift. We provide an interpretation of these results by characterizing the sequence of environments selected when we condition on the survival of particles. This also raises the problem of the dependence of the Yaglom quasistationary distributions on the initial number of particles and the asymptotic behavior of the Q-process associated with a subcritical BPRE.     

Slowdown estimates and central limit theorem for random walks in random environment

This work is concerned with asymptotic properties of multi-dimensional random walks in random environment. Under Kalikow’s condition, we show a central limit theorem for random walks in random environment on ℤ ^d , when d≥2. We also derive tail estimates on the probability of slowdowns. These latter estimates are of special interest due to the natural interplay between slowdowns and the presence of traps in the medium. The tail behavior of the renewal time constructed in [25] plays an important role in the investigation of both problems. This article also improves the previous work of the author [24], concerning estimates of probabilities of slowdowns for walks which are neutral or biased to the right. Received May 31, 1999 / final version received January 18, 2000?Published online April 19, 2000     

Limit theorems for strongly and intermediately supercritical branching processes in random environment with linear fractional offspring distributions

In the present paper, we characterize the behavior of supercritical branching processes in random environment with linear fractional offspring distributions, conditioned on having small, but positive values at some large generation. As it has been noticed in previous works, there is a phase transition in the behavior of the process. Here, we examine the strongly and intermediately supercritical regimes The main result is a conditional limit theorem for the rescaled associated random walk in the intermediately case.     

Brownian asymptotics in a Poissonian environment

Summary We consider a Brownian motion moving in a random potential obtained by translating a given fixed non negative shape function at the points of a Poisson cloud. We derive the almost sure principal long time behavior of the expectation of the natural Feynman Kac functional, which is insensitive to the detail of the shape function. We also study the situation of hard obstacles where Brownian motion is killed once it comes within distancea of a point of the cloud. The nature of the results then changes between the case whena is small or large in connection with the presence, or absence of an infinite component in the complement of the obstacles.     

Stationary states of random Hamiltonian systems

Summary We investigate the ergodic properties of Hamiltonian systems subjected to local random, energy conserving perturbations. We prove for some cases, e.g. anharmonic crystals with random nearest neighbor exchanges (or independent random reflections) of velocities, that all translation invariant stationary states with finite entropy per unit volume are microcanonical Gibbs states. The results can be utilized in proving hydrodynamic behavior of such systems.Hill Center for Mathematical Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, USAJF was supported in parts by Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) and by NSF Grant DMR89-18903     

A local limit theorem for a transient chaotic walk in a frozen environment

This paper studies particle propagation in a one-dimensional inhomogeneous medium where the laws of motion are generated by chaotic and deterministic local maps. Assuming that the particle’s initial location is random and uniformly distributed, this dynamical system can be reduced to a random walk in a one-dimensional inhomogeneous environment with a forbidden direction. Our main result is a local limit theorem which explains in detail why, in the long run, the random walk’s probability mass function does not converge to a Gaussian density, although the corresponding limiting distribution over a coarser diffusive space scale is Gaussian.     

Time dependent critical fluctuations of a one dimensional local mean field model

Summary One-dimensional stochastic Ising systems with a local mean field interaction (Kac potential) are investigated. It is shown that near the critical temperature of the equilibrium (Gibbs) distribution the time dependent process admits a scaling limit given by a nonlinear stochastic PDE. The initial conditions of this approximation theorem are then verified for equilibrium states when the temperature goes to its critical value in a suitable way. Earlier results of Bertini-Presutti-Rüdiger-Saada are improved, the proof is based on an energy inequality obtained by coupling the Glauber dynamics to its voter type, linear approximation.