Limit Processes for Age-Dependent Branching Particle Systems

We consider systems of spatially distributed branching particles in R ^d . The particle lifelengths are of general form, hence the time propagation of the system is typically not Markov. A natural time-space-mass scaling is applied to a sequence of particle systems and we derive limit results for the corresponding sequence of measure-valued processes. The limit is identified as the projection on R ^d of a superprocess in R ₊×R ^d . The additive functional characterizing the superprocess is the scaling limit of certain point processes, which count generations along a line of descent for the branching particles.     

Stochastic domination in space‐time for the contact process

Liggett and Steif (2006) proved that, for the supercritical contact process on certain graphs, the upper invariant measure stochastically dominates an i.i.d. Bernoulli product measure. In particular, they proved this for and (for infection rate sufficiently large) d‐ary homogeneous trees T_d. In this paper, we prove some space‐time versions of their results. We do this by combining their methods with specific properties of the contact process and general correlation inequalities. One of our main results concerns the contact process on T_d with . We show that, for large infection rate, there exists a subset Δ of the vertices of T_d, containing a “positive fraction” of all the vertices of T_d, such that the following holds: The contact process on T_d observed on Δ stochastically dominates an independent spin‐flip process. (This is known to be false for the contact process on graphs having subexponential growth.) We further prove that the supercritical contact process on observed on certain d‐dimensional space‐time slabs stochastically dominates an i.i.d. Bernoulli product measure, from which we conclude strong mixing properties important in the study of certain random walks in random environment.     

Saddlepoint approximation for moments of random variables

In this paper, we introduce a saddlepoint approximation method for higher-order moments like E(S − a)₊ ^m , a>0, where the random variable S in these expectations could be a single random variable as well as the average or sum of some i.i.d random variables, and a > 0 is a constant. Numerical results are given to show the accuracy of this approximation method.     

On a Theorem of Dubins and Freedman

Under a notion of splitting the existence of a unique invariant probability, and a geometric rate of convergence to it in an appropriate metric, are established for Markov processes on a general state space S generated by iterations of i.i.d. maps on S. As corollaries we derive extensions of earlier results of Dubins and Freedman;⁽¹⁷⁾ Yahav;⁽³⁰⁾ and Bhattacharya and Lee⁽⁶⁾ for monotone maps. The general theorem applies in other contexts as well. It is also shown that the Dubins–Freedman result on the necessity of splitting in the case of increasing maps does not hold for decreasing maps, although the sufficiency part holds for both. In addition, the asymptotic stationarity of the process generated by i.i.d. nondecreasing maps is established without the requirement of continuity. Finally, the theory is applied to the random iteration of two (nonmonotone) quadratic maps each with two repelling fixed points and an attractive period-two orbit.     

On Infinitely Divisible Distributions on Locally Compact Abelian Groups

Our aim in this paper is to characterize some classes of infinitely divisible distributions on locally compact abelian groups. Firstly infinitely divisible distributions with no idempotent factor on locally compact abelian groups are characterized by means of limit distributions of sums of independent random variables. We introduce semi-selfdecomposable distributions on topological fields, and in case of totally disconnected fields we give a limit theorem for them. We also give a characterization of semistable laws on p-adic field and show that semistable processes are constructed as scaling limits of sums of i.i.d.     

Invariant Gaussian processes and independent sets on regular graphs of large girth

We prove that every 3‐regular, n‐vertex simple graph with sufficiently large girth contains an independent set of size at least 0.4361n. (The best known bound is 0.4352n.) In fact, computer simulation suggests that the bound our method provides is about 0.438n. Our method uses invariant Gaussian processes on the d‐regular tree that satisfy the eigenvector equation at each vertex for a certain eigenvalue . We show that such processes can be approximated by i.i.d. factors provided that . We then use these approximations for to produce factor of i.i.d. independent sets on regular trees. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 47, 284–303, 2015     

Precise asymptotics in some strong limit theorems for multidimensionally indexed random variables

Consider Z₊^d (d2)—the positive d-dimensional lattice points with partial ordering , let {X_k,kZ₊^d} be i.i.d. random variables with mean 0, and set S_n=∑_knX_k, nZ₊^d. We establish precise asymptotics for ∑_n|n|^r/p−2P(|S_n||n|^1/p), and for

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, (0δ1) as 0, and for

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as .     

Self‐Intersection Local Time for 𝒮′(ℝd)‐Ornstein‐Uhlenbeck Processes Arising from Immigration Systems

Fluctuation limits of an immigration branching particle system and an immigration branching measure‐valued process yield different types of 𝒮′(ℝ^d)‐valued Ornstein‐Uhlenbeck processes whose covariances are given in terms of an excessive measure for the underlying motion in Rd, which is taken to be a symmetric α‐stable process. In this paper we prove existence and path continuity results for the self‐intersection local time of these Ornstein‐Uhlenbeck processes. The results depend on relationships between the dimension d and the parameter α.     

Absolute continuities of exit measures for superdiffusions

Suppose X= X_t, X_T, P_μis a superdiffusion in ℝ^d with general branching mechanism ψ and general branching rate functionA. We discuss conditions onA to guarantee that the exit measure X_TL of the superdiffusionX from bounded smooth domains in ℝ^d have absolutely continuous states.     

On the Rate of Decay of the Concentration Function of the Sum of Independent Random Variables

Let X₁, ... , X_n be i.i.d. integral valued random variables and S_n their sum. In the case when X₁ has a moderately large tail of distribution, Deshouillers, Freiman and Yudin gave a uniform upper bound for max _{k ∊ ℤ} Pr{S_n = k} (which can be expressed in term of the Lévy Doeblin concentration of S_n), under the extra condition that X₁ is not essentially supported by an arithmetic progression. The first aim of the paper is to show that this extra condition cannot be simply ruled out. Secondly, it is shown that if X₁ has a very large tail (larger than a Cauchy-type distribution), then the extra arithmetic condition is not sufficient to guarantee a uniform upper bound for the decay of the concentration of the sum S_n. Proofs are constructive and enhance the connection between additive number theory and probability theory.À Jean-Louis Nicolas, avec amitié et respect2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: Primary—60Fxx, 60Exx, 11Pxx, 11B25     

Swendsen‐Wang dynamics for general graphs in the tree uniqueness region

The Swendsen‐Wang (SW) dynamics is a popular Markov chain for sampling from the Gibbs distribution for the ferromagnetic Ising model on a graph G = (V,E). The dynamics is conjectured to converge to equilibrium in O(|V|^1/4) steps at any (inverse) temperature β, yet there are few results providing o(|V|) upper bounds. We prove fast convergence of the SW dynamics on general graphs in the tree uniqueness region. In particular, when β < β_c(d) where β_c(d) denotes the uniqueness/nonuniqueness threshold on infinite d‐regular trees, we prove that the relaxation time (i.e., the inverse spectral gap) of the SW dynamics is Θ(1) on any graph of maximum degree d ≥ 3. Our proof utilizes a monotone version of the SW dynamics which only updates isolated vertices. We establish that this variant of the SW dynamics has mixing time and relaxation time Θ(1) on any graph of maximum degree d for all β < β_c(d). Our proof technology can be applied to general monotone Markov chains, including for example the heat‐bath block dynamics, for which we obtain new tight mixing time bounds.     

Non-Strebel points and variability sets

This paper studies the subset of the non-Strebel points in the universal Teichmuller space T. Let Z0 ∈ △be a fixed point. Then we prove that for every non-Strebel point h, there is a holomorphic curve γ : [0, 1]→ T with h as its initial point satisfying the following conditions.(1) The curve γ is on a sphere centered at the base-point of T, i.e. dT(id, γ(t)) = dT(id, h), (t ∈ [0, 1]).(2) For every t ∈ (0,1], the variability set Vγ(t)[Z0] of γ(t) has non-empty interior, i.e. Vγ(t) [Z0] ≠ .     

Uniqueness of Markov-Extremal Polynomials on Symmetric Convex Bodies

For a compact set K\subset R ^d with nonempty interior, the Markov constants M _n (K) can be defined as the maximal possible absolute value attained on K by the gradient vector of an n -degree polynomial p with maximum norm 1 on K . It is known that for convex, symmetric bodies M _n (K) = n ² /r(K) , where r(K) is the ``half-width' (i.e., the radius of the maximal inscribed ball) of the body K . We study extremal polynomials of this Markov inequality, and show that they are essentially unique if and only if K has a certain geometric property, called flatness. For example, for the unit ball B ^d (\smallbf 0, 1) we do not have uniqueness, while for the unit cube [-1,1] ^d the extremal polynomials are essentially unique. September 9, 1999. Date revised: September 28, 2000. Date accepted: November 14, 2000.     

TheT, T −1-process, finitary codings and weak Bernoulli

We give an elementary proof that the second coordinate (the scenery process) of theT, T ⁻¹-process associated to any mean zero i.i.d. random walk onZ ^d is not a finitary factor of an i.i.d. process. In particular, this yields an elementary proof that the basicT, T ⁻¹-process is not finitarily isomorphic to a Bernoulli shift (the stronger fact that it is not Bernoulli was proved by Kalikow). This also provides (using past work of den Hollander and the author) an elementary example, namely theT, T ⁻¹-process in 5 dimensions, of a process which is weak Bernoulli but not a finitary factor of an i.i.d. process. An example of such a process was given earlier by del Junco and Rahe. The above holds true for arbitrary stationary recurrent random walks as well. On the other hand, if the random walk is Bernoulli and transient, theT, T ⁻¹-process associated to it is also Bernoulli. Finally, we show that finitary factors of i.i.d. processes with finite expected coding volume satisfy certain notions of weak Bernoulli in higher dimensions which have been previously introduced and studied in the literature. In particular, this yields (using past work of van den Berg and the author) the fact that the Ising model is weak Bernoulli throughout the subcritical regime.     

Riemann summability of multi-dimensional trigonometric-fourier series

The d-dimensional classical Hardy spaces H_p(T ^d) are introduced and it is shown that the maximal operator of the Riemann sums of a distribution is bounded from H_p(T ^d) to L_p(T ²) (d/(d+1)<p≤∞) and is of weak type (1,1) provided that the supremum in the maximal operator is taken over a positive cone. The same is proved for the conjugate Riemann sums. As a consequence we obtain that every function f∈L₁(T ^d) is a. e. Riemann summable to f, provided again that the limit is taken over a positive cone. This research was partly supported by the Hungarian Scientific Research Funds (OTKA) No F019633.     

Self-Affine Sets and Graph-Directed Systems

   Abstract. A self-affine set in R ⁿ is a compact set T with A(T)= ∪ _{d∈ D} (T+d) where A is an expanding n× n matrix with integer entries and D ={d ₁ , d ₂ ,···, d _N } ⊂ Z ⁿ is an N -digit set. For the case N = | det(A)| the set T has been studied in great detail in the context of self-affine tiles. Our main interest in this paper is to consider the case N > | det(A)| , but the theorems and proofs apply to all the N . The self-affine sets arise naturally in fractal geometry and, moreover, they are the support of the scaling functions in wavelet theory. The main difficulty in studying such sets is that the pieces T+d, d∈ D, overlap and it is harder to trace the iteration. For this we construct a new graph-directed system to determine whether such a set T will have a nonvoid interior, and to use the system to calculate the dimension of T or its boundary (if T ^o ≠  ). By using this setup we also show that the Lebesgue measure of such T is a rational number, in contrast to the case where, for a self-affine tile, it is an integer.     

A Proof of Sznitman's Conjecture about Ballistic RWRE

We consider random walk in a uniformly elliptic i.i.d. random environment in ℤ^d for d ≥ 2 . It is believed that whenever the random walk is transient in a given direction it is necessarily ballistic. In order to quantify the gap which would be needed to prove this equivalence, several ballisticity conditions have been introduced. In particular, Sznitman defined the so-called conditions (T) and (T′) . The first one is the requirement that certain unlikely exit probabilities from a set of slabs decay exponentially fast with their width L . The second one is the requirement that for all γ ∈ (0, 1) condition (T)_γ is satisfied, which in turn is defined as the requirement that the decay is like for some C > 0 . In this article we prove a conjecture of Sznitman from 2002, stating that (T) and (T′) are equivalent. Hence, this closes the circle proving the equivalence of conditions (T) , (T′) , and (T)_γ for some γ ∈ (0, 1) as conjectured by Sznitman, and also of each of these ballisticity conditions with the polynomial condition (P)_M for M ≥ 15d + 5 introduced by Berger, Drewitz, and Ramı́rez in 2014. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Structure of the Particle Population for a Branching Random Walk with a Critical Reproduction Law

We consider a continuous-time symmetric branching random walk on the d-dimensional lattice, d ≥?1, and assume that at the initial moment there is one particle at every lattice point. Moreover, we assume that the underlying random walk has a finite variance of jumps and the reproduction law is described by a continuous-time Markov branching process (a continuous-time analog of a Bienamye-Galton-Watson process) at every lattice point. We study the structure of the particle subpopulation generated by the initial particle situated at a lattice point x. We replay why vanishing of the majority of subpopulations does not affect the convergence to the steady state and leads to clusterization for lattice dimensions d =?1 and d =?2.

     

Precise Asymptotics in Spitzer's Law of Large Numbers

Let X, X ₁, X ₂,... be a sequence of i.i.d. random variables such that EX=0, assume the distribution of X is attracted to a stable distribution with exponent <1, and set S _n=X ₁+ ··· +X _n. We prove that