Distribution of the maxima of random Takagi functions

This paper concerns the maximum value and the set of maximum points of a random version of Takagi’s continuous, nowhere differentiable function. Let F(x):=∑ _n=1^∞ ε _n ϕ(2 ⁿ⁻¹ x), x ∈ R, where ɛ ₁, ɛ ₂, ... are independent, identically distributed random variables taking values in {−1, 1}, and ϕ is the “tent map” defined by ϕ(x) = 2 dist (x, Z). Let p:= P (ɛ ₁ = 1), M:= max {F(x): x ∈ R}, and := {x ∈ [0, 1): F(x) = M}. An explicit expression for M is given in terms of the sequence {ɛ _n }, and it is shown that the probability distribution μ of M is purely atomic if p < , and is singular continuous if p ≧ . In the latter case, the Hausdorff dimension and the multifractal spectrum of μ are determined. It is shown further that the set is finite almost surely if p < , and is topologically equivalent to a Cantor set almost surely if p ≧ . The distribution of the cardinality of is determined in the first case, and the almost-sure Hausdorff dimension of is shown to be (2p − 1)/2p in the second case. The distribution of the leftmost point of is also given. Finally, some of the results are extended to the more general functions Σa ^{n − 1} ɛ _n ϕ(2 ^{n − 1} x), where 0 < a < 1.