Non-independence of excursions of the Brownian sheet and of additive Brownian motion

A classical and important property of Brownian motion is that given its zero set, distinct excursions away from zero are independent. In this paper, we examine the analogous question for the Brownian sheet, and also for additive Brownian motion. Our main result is that given the level set of the Brownian sheet at level zero, distinct excursions of the sheet away from zero are not independent. In fact, given the zero set of the Brownian sheet in the entire non-negative quadrant, and the sign of all but a finite number of excursions away from zero, the signs of the remaining excursions are determined. For additive Brownian motion, we prove the following definitive result: given the zero set of additive Brownian motion and the sign of a single excursion, the signs of all other excursions are determined. In an appendix by John B. Walsh, it is shown that given the absolute value of the sheet in the entire quadrant and, in addition, the sign of the sheet at a fixed, non-random time point, then the whole sheet can be recovered.