Harmonic functions of subordinate killed Brownian motion

In this paper we study harmonic functions of subordinate killed Brownian motion in a domain D. We first prove that, when the killed Brownian semigroup in D is intrinsic ultracontractive, all nonnegative harmonic functions of the subordinate killed Brownian motion in D are continuous and then we establish a Harnack inequality for these harmonic functions. We then show that, when D is a bounded Lipschitz domain, both the Martin boundary and the minimal Martin boundary of the subordinate killed Brownian motion in D coincide with the Euclidean boundary ∂D. We also show that, when D is a bounded Lipschitz domain, a boundary Harnack principle holds for positive harmonic functions of the subordinate killed Brownian motion in D.     

Potential theory of subordinate Brownian motions with Gaussian components

In this paper we study a subordinate Brownian motion with a Gaussian component and a rather general discontinuous part. The assumption on the subordinator is that its Laplace exponent is a complete Bernstein function with a Lévy density satisfying a certain growth condition near zero. The main result is a boundary Harnack principle with explicit boundary decay rate for non-negative harmonic functions of the process in C^1,1$C^{1,1}$ open sets. As a consequence of the boundary Harnack principle, we establish sharp two-sided estimates on the Green function of the subordinate Brownian motion in any bounded C^1,1$C^{1,1}$ open set D$D$ and identify the Martin boundary of D$D$ with respect to the subordinate Brownian motion with the Euclidean boundary.     

Boundary Harnack principle for subordinate Brownian motions

We establish a boundary Harnack principle for a large class of subordinate Brownian motions, including mixtures of symmetric stable processes, in κ$\kappa$-fat open sets (disconnected analogue of John domains). As an application of the boundary Harnack principle, we identify the Martin boundary and the minimal Martin boundary of bounded κ$\kappa$-fat open sets with respect to these processes with their Euclidean boundaries.     

Conditioned Brownian motion in planar domains

Summary We give an upper bound for the Green functions of conditioned Brownian motion in planar domains. A corollary is the conditional gauge theorem in bounded planar domains.Supported in part by NSF grant DMS-9100244 and an AMS Centennial Fellowship     

Brownian motion, harmonic functions and hyperbolicity for Euclidean complexes

A Euclidean complex X is a simplicial complex whose simplices are (flat) Euclidean simplices. We construct a natural Brownian motion on X and show that if X has nonpositive curvature and satisfies Gromov's hyperbolicity condition, then, with probability one, Brownian motion tends to a random limit on the Gromov boundary. Applying a combination of geometric and probabilistic techniques we describe spaces of harmonic functions on X. Received November 18, 1999; in final form January 18, 2000 / Published online April 12, 2001     

Analysis of jump processes with nondegenerate jumping kernels

We prove regularity estimates for functions which are harmonic with respect to certain jump processes. The aim of this article is to extend the method of Bass–Levin (2002) [3] and Bogdan–Sztonyk (2005) [6] to more general processes. Furthermore, we establish a new version of the Harnack inequality that implies regularity estimates for corresponding harmonic functions.     

Brownian motion on the continuum tree

Summary We construct Brownian motion on a continuum tree, a structure introduced as an asymptotic limit to certain families of finite trees. We approximate the Dirichlet form of Brownian motion on the continuum tree by adjoining one-dimensional Brownian excursions. We study the local times of the resulting diffusion. Using time-change methods, we find explicit expressions for certain hitting probabilities and the mean occupation density of the process.     

The martin boundary for harmonic functions on groups of automorphisms of a homogeneous tree

Consider a closed subgroup of the automorphism group of a homogeneous treeT, and assume that acts transitively on the vertex set. Suppose that is a probability measure on which has continuous density with respect to Haar measure and whose support is compact open and generates as a closed semigroup. It is shown that the Martin boundary of with respect to the random walk with law coincides with the space of ends ofT. This extends known results for free groups and applies, for example, to the affine group over a non archimedean local field.     

Muckenhoupt weights and Lindelöf theorem for harmonic mappings

We extend the result of Lavrentiev which asserts that the harmonic measure and the arc-length measure are _A∞$A_{\infty }$ equivalent in a chord-arc Jordan domain. By using this result we extend the classical result of Lindelöf to the class of quasiconformal (q.c.) harmonic mappings by proving the following assertion. Assume that f is a quasiconformal harmonic mapping of the unit disk U onto a Jordan domain. Then the function A(z)=arg?(_∂φ(f(z))/z)$A(z)=\arg ?({\partial }_{\phi }(f(z))/z)$ where z=re^iφ$z=r{e}^{i\phi }$, is well-defined and smooth in U^?={z:0<|z|<1}${\mathbf{U}}^{?}=\{z:0<|z|<1\}$ and has a continuous extension to the boundary of the unit disk if and only if the image domain has C¹$C^1$ boundary.     

Projections for harmonic Bergman spaces and applications

On the setting of general bounded smooth domains in , we construct L¹-bounded nonorthogonal projections and obtain related reproducing formulas for the harmonic Bergman spaces. In addition, we show that those projections satisfy Sobolev L^p-estimates of any order even for p=1. Among applications are Gleason's problems for the harmonic Bergman-Sobolev and (little) Bloch functions on star-shaped domains with strong reference points.     

Reflecting Brownian motions: Quasimartingales and strong Caccioppoli sets

A notion ofstrong Caccioppoli set is defined for bounded Euclidean domains. It is shown that stationary (normally) reflecting Brownian motion on the closure of a bounded Euclidean domain is a quasimartingale on each compact time interval if and only if the domain is a strong Caccioppoli set. A similar result is shown to hold for symmetric reflecting diffusion processes.Research supported in part by NSF Grant DMS 91-01675.Research supported in part by NSF Grants DMS 86-57483 and 90-23335.     

Non-symmetric perturbations of symmetric Dirichlet forms

We provide a path-space integral representation of the semigroup associated with the quadratic form obtained by lower order perturbation of a symmetric local Dirichlet form. The representation is a combination of Feynman-Kac and Girsanov formulas, and extends previously known results in the framework of symmetric diffusion processes through the use of the Hardy class of smooth measures, which contains the Kato class of smooth measures.     

Some Markov processes with Brownian exit distributions

Summary LetD be a bounded domain inR ^d with regular boundary. LetX=(X_t, P^x) be a standard Markov process inD with continuous paths up to its lifetime. IfX satisfies some weak conditions, then it is possible to add a non-local part to its generator, and construct the corresponding standard Markov process inD with Brownian exit distributions fromD.This work was done while the author was an Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the Universität des Saarlandes in Saarbrücken, Germany     

Optimal dividends in the Brownian motion risk model with interest

In this paper, we consider a Brownian motion risk model, and in addition, the surplus earns investment income at a constant force of interest. The objective is to find a dividend policy so as to maximize the expected discounted value of dividend payments. It is well known that optimality is achieved by using a barrier strategy for unrestricted dividend rate. However, ultimate ruin of the company is certain if a barrier strategy is applied. In many circumstances this is not desirable. This consideration leads us to impose a restriction on the dividend stream. We assume that dividends are paid to the shareholders according to admissible strategies whose dividend rate is bounded by a constant. Under this additional constraint, we show that the optimal dividend strategy is formed by a threshold strategy.     

Unstable invariant manifolds for stochastic PDEs driven by a fractional Brownian motion

In this paper, we consider a class of stochastic partial differential equations (SPDEs) driven by a fractional Brownian motion (fBm) with the Hurst parameter bigger than 1/2. The existence of local random unstable manifolds is shown if the linear parts of these SPDEs are hyperbolic. For this purpose we introduce a modified Lyapunov-Perron transform, which contains stochastic integrals. By the singularities inside these integrals we obtain a special Lyapunov-Perron's approach by treating a segment of the solution over time interval [0,1] as a starting point and setting up an infinite series equation involving these segments as time evolves. Using this approach, we establish the existence of local random unstable manifolds in a tempered neighborhood of an equilibrium.