Limit theorems for flows of branching processes

We construct two kinds of stochastic flows of discrete Galton-Watson branching processes. Some scaling limit theorems for the flows are proved, which lead to local and nonlocal branching superprocesses over the positive half line.     

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.     

Ratio limit theorems for branching Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes

We prove ratio limit theorems for critical ano supercritical branching Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes. A finite first moment of the offspring distribution {p_n} assures convergence in probability for supercritical processes and conditional convergence in probability for critical processes. If even Σp_nnlog⁺log⁺n< ∞, then almost sure convergence obtains in the supercritical case.     

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.     

Extinction properties of multi-type continuous-state branching processes

Recently in Barczy et al. (2015), the notion of a multi-type continuous-state branching process (with immigration) having $d$-types was introduced as a solution to an $d$-dimensional vector-valued SDE. Preceding that, work on affine processes, originally motivated by mathematical finance, in Duffie et al. (2003) also showed the existence of such processes. See also more recent contributions in this direction due to Gabrielli and Teichmann (2014) and Caballero and Pérez Garmendia (2017). Older work on multi-type continuous-state branching processes is more sparse but includes Watanabe (1969) and Ma (2013), where only two types are considered. In this paper we take a completely different approach and consider multi-type continuous-state branching process, now allowing for up to a countable infinity of types, defined instead as a super Markov chain with both local and non-local branching mechanisms. In the spirit of Engländer and Kypriano (2004) we explore their extinction properties and pose a number of open problems.     

Sesqui-type branching processes

We consider branching processes consisting of particles (individuals) of two types (type $L$ and type $S$) in which only particles of type $L$ have offspring, proving estimates for the survival probability and the (tail of) the distribution of the total number of particles. Such processes are in some sense closer to single- than to multi-type branching processes. Nonetheless, the second, barren, type complicates the analysis significantly. The results proved here (about point and survival probabilities) are a key ingredient in the analysis of bounded-size Achlioptas processes in a recent paper by the last two authors.     

Limit theorems for occupation time fluctuations of branching systems I: Long-range dependence

We give a functional limit theorem for the fluctuations of the rescaled occupation time process of a critical branching particle system in R^d${\mathbb{R}}^d$ with symmetric α$\alpha$-stable motion and α<d<2α$\alpha <d<2\alpha$, which leads to a long-range dependence process involving sub-fractional Brownian motion. We also give an analogous result for the system without branching and d<α$d<\alpha$, which involves fractional Brownian motion. We use a space–time random field approach.     

Limit theorems for occupation time fluctuations of branching systems II: Critical and large dimensions

We give functional limit theorems for the fluctuations of the rescaled occupation time process of a critical branching particle system in R^d${\mathbb{R}}^d$ with symmetric α$\alpha$-stable motion in the cases of critical and large dimensions, d=2α$d=2\alpha$ and d>2α$d>2\alpha$. In a previous paper [T. Bojdecki, L.G. Gorostiza, A. Talarczyk, Limit theorems for occupation time fluctuations of branching systems I: long-range dependence, Stochastic Process. Appl., this issue.] we treated the case of intermediate dimensions, α<d<2α$\alpha <d<2\alpha$, which leads to a long-range dependence limit process. In contrast, in the present cases the limits are generalized Wiener processes. We use the same space–time random field method of the previous paper, the main difference being that now the tightness requires a new approach and the proofs are more difficult. We also give analogous results for the system without branching in the cases d=α$d=\alpha$ and d>α$d>\alpha$.     

Backbone decomposition for continuous-state branching processes with immigration

In the spirit of Duquesne and Winkel (2007) and Berestycki et al. (2011), we show that supercritical continuous-state branching process with a general branching mechanism and general immigration mechanism is equivalent in law to a continuous-time Galton-Watson process with immigration (with Poissonian dressing). The result also helps to characterise the limiting backbone decomposition which is predictable from the work on consistent growth of Galton-Watson trees with immigration in Cao and Winkel (2010).     

Critical age-dependent branching process diffusions

Two diffusions are derived as the limits in finite dimensional distributions of appropriately conditioned and scaled critical age-dependent branching processes. A technical lemma about the asymptotic behavior of the joint generating function is used to overcome the difficulties introduced by the non-Markov nature of the process. The results are extensions of those of Lamperti and Ney [5] for Galton-Watson processes. Also, the “age-dependent Q-process” is defined and its transition probabilities obtained.     

Central limit theorems for a supercritical branching process in a random environment

For a supercritical branching process (Z_n) in a stationary and ergodic environment ξ, we study the rate of convergence of the normalized population W_n=Z_n/E[Z_n|ξ] to its limit W_∞: we show a central limit theorem for W_∞−W_n with suitable normalization and derive a Berry-Esseen bound for the rate of convergence in the central limit theorem when the environment is independent and identically distributed. Similar results are also shown for W_n+k−W_n for each fixed k∈N^∗.     

A limit theorem for trees of alleles in branching processes with rare neutral mutations

We are interested in the genealogical structure of alleles for a Bienaymé–Galton–Watson branching process with neutral mutations (infinite alleles model), in the situation where the initial population is large and the mutation rate small. We shall establish that for an appropriate regime, the process of the sizes of the allelic sub-families converges in distribution to a certain continuous state branching process (i.e. a Ji?ina process) in discrete time. Itô’s excursion theory and the Lévy–Itô decomposition of subordinators provide fundamental insights for the results.     

Limit theorems for the critical age-dependent branching process with infinite variance

Let Z(t) be the population at time t of a critical age-dependent branching process. Suppose that the offspring distribution has a generating function of the form f(s) = s + (1 ? s)^1+αL(1 ? s) where α ∈ (0, 1) and L(x) varies slowly as x → 0⁺. Then we find, as t → ∞, (P{Z(t)> 0})^αL(P{Z(t)>0})～ μ/αt where μ is the mean lifetime of each particle. Furthermore, if we condition the process on non-extinction at time t, the random variable P{Z(t)>0}Z(t) converges in law to a random variable with Laplace-Stieltjes transform 1 - u(1 + u^α)^?1/α for u ?/ 0. Moment conditions on the lifetime distribution required for the above results are discussed.     

A pathwise approach to the extinction of branching processes with countably many types

We consider the extinction events of Galton–Watson processes with countably infinitely many types. In particular, we construct truncated and augmented Galton–Watson processes with finite but increasing sets of types. A pathwise approach is then used to show that, under some sufficient conditions, the corresponding sequence of extinction probability vectors converges to the global extinction probability vector of the Galton–Watson process with countably infinitely many types. Besides giving rise to a family of new iterative methods for computing the global extinction probability vector, our approach paves the way to new global extinction criteria for branching processes with countably infinitely many types.     

The exact hausdorff dimension of a branching set

Summary We obtain a critical function for which the Hausdorff measure of a branching set generated by a simple Galton-Watson process is positive and finite.     

Conditional limit theorems for critical continuous-state branching processes

We study the conditional limit theorems for critical continuous-state branching processes with branching mechanism ψ(λ) = λ1+αL(1/λ), where α∈ [0, 1] and L is slowly varying at ∞. We prove that if α∈(0, 1], there are norming constants Qt→ 0(as t ↑ +∞) such that for every x 0, Px(QtXt∈·| Xt 0)converges weakly to a non-degenerate limit. The converse assertion is also true provided the regularity of ψ at0. We give a conditional limit theorem for the case α = 0. The limit theorems we obtain in this paper allow infinite variance of the branching process.     

Reverse processes and some limit theorems of multitype Galton-Watson processes

We classify the reverse process {X_n} of a multitype Galton-Watson process {Z_n}. In the positive recurrent cases we give the stationary measure for {X_n} explicitly, and in the critical case, supposing that all the second moments of Z₁ are finite, we establish the convergence in law to a gamma distribution. Limit distributions of {Z_cn}, 0 < c < 1, conditioned on Z_n, are also given in the subcritical, supercritical and critical cases, respectively. These extend the previous one-type work of W. W. Esty.     

New large deviation results for some super-Brownian processes

We give large deviation results for the super-Brownian excursion conditioned to have unit mass or unit extinction time and for super-Brownian motion with constant non-positive drift. We use a representation of these processes by a path-valued process, the so-called Brownian snake for which we state large deviation principles.