[PAS] Probability Abstracts 98

Probability Abstract Service pas at lists.imstat.org
Wed Jul 4 16:50:53 CDT 2007


Probability Abstracts 98
This document contains abstracts 5550-5756 from
May-1-2007 to June-30-2007.
They have been mailed on July 4th, 2007.

This letter can be also found on line at
http://pas.imstat.org/Letters/letter_98.shtml

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5550. PACKING-DIMENSION PROFILES AND FRACTIONAL BROWNIAN MOTION

Davar Khoshnevisan and Yimin Xiao

In order to compute the packing dimension of orthogonal projections
   Falconer and Howroyd (1997) introduced a family of packing  
dimension profiles
${\rm Dim}_s$ that are parametrized by real numbers $s>0$. Subsequently,
Howroyd (2001) introduced alternate $s$-dimensional packing dimension  
profiles
$\hbox{${\rm P}$-$\dim$}_s$ and proved, among many other things, that
$\hbox{${\rm P}$-$\dim$}_s E={\rm Dim}_s E$ for all integers $s>0$  
and all
analytic sets $E\subseteq\R^N$. The goal of this article is to prove  
that
$\hbox{${\rm P}$-$\dim$}_s E={\rm Dim}_s E$ for all real numbers $s>0 
$ and
analytic sets $E\subseteq\R^N$. This answers a question of Howroyd  
(2001, p.
159). Our proof hinges on a new property of fractional Brownian motion.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0135

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5551. DYNAMICAL PERCOLATION ON GENERAL TREES

Davar Khoshnevisan

H\"aggstr\"om, Peres, and Steif (1997) have introduced a dynamical  
version of
percolation on a graph $G$. When $G$ is a tree they derived a  
necessary and
sufficient condition for percolation to exist at some time $t$. In  
the case
that $G$ is a spherically symmetric tree, H\"aggstr\"om, Peres, and  
Steif
(1997) derived a necessary and sufficient condition for percolation  
to exist at
some time $t$ in a given target set $D$. The main result of the  
present paper
is a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of  
percolation, at
some time $t\in D$, in the case that the underlying tree is not  
necessary
spherically symmetric. This answers a question of Yuval Peres (personal
communication). We present also a formula for the Hausdorff dimension  
of the
set of exceptional times of percolation.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0140

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5552. MUTUAL FUND THEOREMS WHEN MINIMIZING THE PROBABILITY OF  
LIFETIME RUIN

Erhan Bayraktar and  Virginia R. Young

We show that the mutual fund theorems of Merton (1971) extend to the  
problem
of optimal investment to minimize the probability of lifetime ruin.  
We obtain
four such theorems by considering a financial market both with and  
without a
riskless asset and by considering both constant and random consumption.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0053

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5553. BROWNIAN SUBORDINATORS AND FRACTIONAL CAUCHY PROBLEMS

Boris Baeumer and  Mark M. Meerschaert and Erkan Nane

A Brownian time process is a Markov process subordinated to the absolute
value of an independent one-dimensional Brownian motion. Its transition
densities solve an initial value problem involving the square of the  
generator
of the original Markov process. An apparently unrelated class of  
processes,
emerging as the scaling limits of continuous time random walks, involve
subordination to the inverse or hitting time process of a classical  
stable
subordinator. The resulting densities solve fractional Cauchy  
problems, an
extension that involves fractional derivatives in time. In this  
paper, we will
show a close and unexpected connection between these two classes of  
processes,
and consequently, an equivalence between these two families of partial
differential equations.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0168

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5554. THE ORDER OF THE LARGEST COMPLETE MINOR IN A RANDOM GRAPH

N. Fountoulakis and  D. K\"uhn and  D. Osthus

Let ccl(G) denote the order of the largest complete minor in a graph  
G (also
called the contraction clique number) and let G(n,p) denote a random  
graph on n
vertices with edge probability p. Bollobas, Catlin and Erdos  
asymptotically
determined ccl(G (n,p)) when p is a constant. Luczak, Pittel and  
Wierman gave
bounds on ccl(G(n,p)) when p is very close to 1/n, i.e. inside the phase
transition. Extending the results of Bollobas, Catlin and Erdos, we  
determine
ccl(G(n,p)) quite tightly, for p>C/n where C is a large constant. If  
p=C/n, for
an arbitrary constant C>1, then we show that asymptotically almost  
surely ccl(G
(n,p)) is of order square-root of n. This answers a question of  
Krivelevich and
Sudakov.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0325

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5555. MERGING OF OPINIONS IN GAME-THEORETIC PROBABILITY

Vladimir Vovk

This paper gives game-theoretic versions of several results on  
"merging of
opinions" obtained in measure-theoretic probability and algorithmic  
randomness
theory. An advantage of the game-theoretic versions over the measure- 
theoretic
results is that they are pointwise, their advantage over the algorithmic
randomness results is that they are non-asymptotic, but the most  
important
advantage over both is that they are very constructive, giving  
explicit and
efficient strategies for players in a game of prediction.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0372

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5556. LARGE DEVIATIONS FOR MULTIDIMENSIONAL SDES WITH REFLECTION

Zongxia Liang

The large deviations principles are established for a class of
multidimensional degenerate stochastic differential equations with  
reflecting
boundary conditions. The results include two cases where the initial  
conditions
are adapted and anticipated.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0405

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5557. WHEN ARE SWING OPTIONS BANG-BANG AND HOW TO USE IT

Olivier Aj Bardou (GDF-RDD) and  Sandrine Bouthemy (GDF-RDD) and   
Gilles  Pag\`es (PMA)

In this paper we investigate a class of swing options with firm  
constraints
in view of the modeling of supply agreements. We show, for a fully  
general
payoff process, that the premium, solution to a stochastic control  
problem, is
concave and piecewise affine as a function of the global constraints  
of the
contract. The existence of bang-bang optimal controls is established  
for a set
of constraints which generates by affinity the whole premium  
function. When the
payoff process is driven by an underlying Markov process, we propose a
quantization based recursive backward procedure to price these  
contracts. A
priori error bounds are established, uniformly with respect to the  
global
constraints.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0466

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5558. MANY RANDOM WALKS ARE FASTER THAN ONE

Noga Alon and Chen Avin and Michal Koucky and Gady Kozma and Zvi   
Lotker and Mark R. Tuttle

We consider a fundamental new question regarding random walks on  
graphs: How
long does it take for several independent random walks to cover an  
entire
graph? We study the {\em cover time}, the expected time required to  
visit every
node in a graph at least once, and we show that for a large  
collection of
interesting graphs, running many random walks in parallel yields a  
speed-up in
the cover time that is linear in the number of the parallel walks. We
demonstrate that an exponential speed-up is sometimes possible, but  
that some
natural graphs allow only a logarithmic speed-up.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0467

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5559. SPACE-TIME PERCOLATION

Geoffrey Grimmett

The contact model for the spread of disease may be viewed as a directed
percolation model on $\ZZ \times \RR$ in which the continuum axis is  
oriented
in the direction of increasing time. Techniques from percolation have  
enabled a
fairly complete analysis of the contact model at and near its  
critical point.
The corresponding process when the time-axis is unoriented is an  
undirected
percolation model to which now standard techniques may be applied.  
One may
construct in similar vein a random-cluster model on $\ZZ \times \RR$,  
with
associated continuum Ising and Potts models. These models are of  
independent
interest, in addition to providing a path-integral representation of the
quantum Ising model with transverse field. This representation may be  
used to
obtain a bound on the entanglement of a finite set of spins in the  
quantum
Ising model on $\ZZ$, where this entanglement is measured via the  
entropy of
the reduced density matrix. The mean-field version of the quantum  
Ising model
gives rise to a random-cluster model on $K_n \times \RR$, thereby  
extending the
Erdos-Renyi random graph on the complete graph $K_n$.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0506

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5560. BRINGING ERRORS INTO FOCUS

Nicolas Bouleau (CIRED)

This lecture presents recent advances in the theory of errors  
propagation. We
first explain in which cases the propagation of errors may be  
performed with a
first order differential calculus or needs a second order differential
calculus. Then we point out the link between error propagation and  
the concept
of second order vector in differential geometry, emphasizing the  
existence of a
slight ambiguity concerning the bias operator. The third part in  
devoted to the
powerful framework of Dirichlet forms whose main feature is to apply  
easily to
infinite dimensional models including the Wiener space (giving an
interpretation of Malliavin calculus in terms of errors), the Poisson  
space and
the Monte Carlo space. In the fourth part we show how an error in the  
usual
mathematical sense, i.e. an approximate quantity, may yield a  
Dirichlet form
and we introduce the four bias operators. Eventually we connect the  
Dirichlet
form with statistics by identifying the square of field operator with  
the
inverse of the Fisher information matrix.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0519

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5561. CHANGE POINT ESTIMATION FOR THE TELEGRAPH PROCESS OBSERVED AT  
DISCRETE  TIMES

Alessandro De Gregorio and  Stefano M. Iacus

The telegraph process models a random motion with finite velocity and  
it is
usually proposed as an alternative to diffusion models. The process  
describes
the position of a particle moving on the real line, alternatively  
with constant
velocity $+ v$ or $-v$. The changes of direction are governed by an  
homogeneous
Poisson process with rate $\lambda >0.$ In this paper, we consider a  
change
point estimation problem for the rate of the underlying Poisson  
process by
means of least squares method. The consistency and the rate of  
convergence for
the change point estimator are obtained and its asymptotic  
distribution is
derived. Applications to real data are also presented.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0503

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5562. ASYMPTOTIC BEHAVIOR OF SOME WEIGHTED QUADRATIC AND CUBIC  
VARIATIONS OF  THE FRACTIONAL BROWNIAN MOTION

Ivan Nourdin (PMA)

This note is devoted to a fine study of the convergence of some weighted
quadratic and cubic variations of a fractional Brownian motion B with  
Hurst
index H in (0,1/2). With the help of Malliavin calculus, we show that,
correctly renormalized, the weighted quadratic variation of B that we  
consider
converges in L^2 to an explicit limit when H<1/4, while we conjecture  
that it
converges in law when H>1/4. In the same spirit, we also show that,  
correctly
renormalized, the weighted cubic variation of B converges in L^2 to  
an explicit
limit when H<1/6.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0570

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5563. CENTRAL LIMIT THEOREM FOR THE EXCITED RANDOM WALK IN DIMENSION  
$D \GEQ  2$

Jean B\'erard and Alejandro Ram\'irez

We prove that a law of large numbers and a central limit theorem hold  
for the
excited random walk model in every dimension $d \geq 2$.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0658

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5564. UNIQUENESS AND NON-UNIQUENESS OF CHAINS ON HALF LINES

R. Fernandez and  G. Maillard

We establish a one-to-one correspondence between one-sided and two-sided
regular systems of conditional probabilities on the half-line that  
preserves
the associated chains and Gibbs measures. As an application, we  
determine
uniqueness and non-uniqueness regimes in one-sided versions of  
ferromagnetic
Ising models with long range interactions. Our study shows that the  
interplay
between chain and Gibbsian theories yields more information than that  
contained
within the known theory of each separate framework. In particular: (i) A
Gibbsian construction due to Dyson yields a new family of chains with  
phase
transitions; (ii) these transitions show that a square summability  
uniqueness
condition of chains is false in the general non-shift-invariant  
setting, and
(iii) an uniqueness criterion for chains shows that a Gibbsian  
conjecture due
to Kac and Thompson is false in this half-line setting.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0808

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5565. A BERRY-ESSEEN TYPE INEQUALITY FOR CONVEX BODIES WITH AN  
UNCONDITIONAL  BASIS

Bo'az Klartag

We provide a sharp rate of convergence in the central limit theorem for
random vectors with an unconditional, log-concave density. The  
argument relies
on analysis of the Neumann laplacian on convex domains and on the  
theory of
optimal transportation of measures.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0832

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5566. UNE NOUVELLE CONDITION D'INDEPENDANCE POUR LE THEOREME DE LA  
LIMITE  CENTRALE

Ren\'e Blacher (LJK)

We prove a central limit theorem with aassumptions which are many  
weak than
classical conditions


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0853

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5567. POISSON APPROXIMATION FOR NON-BACKTRACKING RANDOM WALKS

Noga Alon and  Eyal Lubetzky

Random walks on expander graphs were thoroughly studied, with the  
important
motivation that, under some natural conditions, these walks mix  
quickly and
provide an efficient method of sampling the vertices of a graph. Alon,
Benjamini, Lubetzky and Sodin studied non-backtracking random walks  
on regular
graphs, and showed that their mixing rate may be up to twice as fast  
as that of
the simple random walk. As an application, they showed that the  
maximal number
of visits to a vertex, made by a non-backtracking random walk of  
length $n$ on
a high-girth $n$-vertex regular expander, is typically $(1+o(1))\frac 
{\log
n}{\log\log n}$, as in the case of the balls and bins experiment.  
They further
asked whether one can establish the precise distribution of the  
visits such a
walk makes.
   In this work, we answer the above question by combining a  
generalized form of
Brun's sieve with some extensions of the ideas in Alon et al. Let $N_t 
$ denote
the number of vertices visited precisely $t$ times by a non- 
backtracking random
walk of length $n$ on a regular $n$-vertex expander of fixed degree  
and girth
$g$. We prove that if $g=\omega(1)$, then for any fixed $t$, $N_t/n$ is
typically $\frac{1}{\mathrm{e}t!}+o(1)$. Furthermore, if $g=\Omega 
(\log\log
n)$, then $N_t/n$ is typically $\frac{1+o(1)}{\mathrm{e}t!}$  
uniformly on all
$t \leq (1-o(1))\frac{\log n}{\log\log n}$ and 0 for all $t \geq
(1+o(1))\frac{\log n}{\log\log n}$. In particular, we obtain the  
above result
on the typical maximal number of visits to a single vertex, with an  
improved
threshold window. The essence of the proof lies in showing that  
variables
counting the number of visits to a set of sufficiently distant  
vertices are
asymptotically independent Poisson variables.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0867

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5568. ULTRAMETRIC AND TREE POTENTIAL

Claude Dellacherie and  Servet Martinez and  Jaime San Martin

We study infinite tree and ultrametric matrices, and their action on the
boundary of the tree. For each tree matrix we show the existence of a  
symmetric
random walk associated to it and we study its Green potential. We  
provide a
representation theorem for harmonic functions that includes simple  
expressions
for any increasing harmonic function and the Martin kernel. In the  
boundary, we
construct the Markov kernel whose Green function is the extension of  
the matrix
and we simulate it by using a cascade of killing independent  
exponential random
variables and conditionally independent uniform variables. For  
ultrametric
matrices we supply probabilistic conditions to study its potential  
properties
when immersed in its minimal tree matrix extension.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0967

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5569. REFLECTED BACKWARD SDES WITH TWO BARRIERS UNDER MONOTONICITY  
AND GENERAL  INCREASING CONDITIONS

Mingyu Xu

In this paper, we prove the existence and uniqueness result of the  
reflected
BSDE with two continuous barriers under monotonicity and general  
increasing
condition on $y$, with Lipschitz condition on $z$.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1026

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5570. COMBINATORICS OF TRUNCATED RANDOM UNITARY MATRICES

Jonathan Novak

We investigate the combinatorics of truncated Haar-distributed random  
unitary
matrices. Specifically, if $U$ is a random matrix from the unitary group
$U(d),$ let $U_k$ denote its $k \times k$ upper left corner, where $1  
\leq k
\leq d.$ We give an explicit formula for the moments of the trace of  
$U_k$ in
terms of pairs of Standard Young Tableaux on distinct shapes. This  
formula can
be restated as counting configurations of non-intersecting walkers on  
the
integer lattice. Our main tool is the Colour-Flavour Transformation  
of lattice
gauge theory.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0984

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5571. FLUCTUATIONS OF EIGENVALUES AND SECOND ORDER POINCARE INEQUALITIES

Sourav Chatterjee

Linear statistics of eigenvalues in many familiar classes of random  
matrices
are known to obey gaussian central limit theorems. The proofs of such  
results
are usually rather difficult, involving hard computations specific to  
the model
in question. In this article we attempt to formulate a unified  
technique for
deriving such results via relatively soft arguments. Our approach is  
based on a
notion of `extending the Poincare inequality to the second order' via  
Stein's
method of normal approximation. Just as ordinary Poincare  
inequalities give
variance bounds, our second order Poincare inequalities (based on  
second order
partial derivatives) give central limit theorems. A number of examples,
complete with total variation error bounds, are worked out. On the  
downside, we
require stringent distributional assumptions and our theorems do not  
provide
information about the variances of the linear statistics, which have  
to be
computed separately.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1224

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5572. DIFFUSION COVARIATION AND CO-JUMPS IN BIDIMENSIONAL ASSET  
PRICE  PROCESSES WITH STOCHASTIC VOLATILITY AND INFINITE ACTIVITY  
LEVY JUMPS

Fabio Gobbi and  Cecilia Mancini

In this paper we consider two processes driven by diffusions and  
jumps. The
jump components are Levy processes and they can both have finite  
activity and
infinite activity. Given discrete observations we estimate the  
covariation
between the two diffusion parts and the co-jumps. The detection of  
the co-jumps
allows to gain insight in the dependence structure of the jump  
components and
has important applications in finance. Our estimators are based on a  
threshold
principle allowing to isolate the jumps. This work follows Gobbi and  
Mancini
(2006) where the asymptotic normality for the estimator of the  
covariation,
with convergence speed given by the squared root of h, was obtained  
when the
jump components have finite activity. Here we show that the speed is the
squared root of h only when the activity of the jump components is  
moderate.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1268

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5573. A NOTE ON SLE CURVES

Qingyang Guan

By constructing super harmonic functions, we give a direct proof for the
existence of the continuous curve of SLE_8. This method can also be  
applied to
driven function of Brownian motion with variant speeds.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1273

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5574. SLOW CONVERGENCE IN BOOTSTRAP PERCOLATION

Janko Gravner and Alexander E. Holroyd

In the bootstrap percolation model, sites in an L by L square are  
initially
infected independently with probability p. At subsequent steps, a  
healthy site
becomes infected if it has at least 2 infected neighbours. As
(L,p)->(infinity,0), the probability that the entire square is  
eventually
infected is known to undergo a phase transition in the parameter p  
log L,
occurring asymptotically at lambda = pi^2/18. We prove that the  
discrepancy
between the critical parameter and its limit lambda is at least Omega 
((log
L)^(-1/2)). In contrast, the critical window has width only Theta((log
L)^(-1)). For the so-called modified model, we prove rigorous  
explicit bounds
which imply for example that the relative discrepancy is at least 1%  
even when
L = 10^3000. Our results shed some light on the observed differences  
between
simulations and rigorous asymptotics.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1347

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5575. SURVIVAL OF A DIFFUSING PARTICLE IN AN EXPANDING CAGE

Alan J Bray and  Richard Smith

We consider a Brownian particle, with diffusion constant D, moving  
inside an
expanding d-dimensional sphere whose surface is an absorbing boundary  
for the
particle. The sphere has initial radius L_0 and expands at a constant  
rate c.
We calculate the joint probability density, p(r,t|r_0), that the  
particle
survives until time t, and is at a distance r from the centre of the  
sphere,
given that it started at a distance r_0 from the centre.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0501

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5576. ON THE APPROXIMATE NORMALITY OF EIGENFUNCTIONS OF THE LAPLACIAN

Elizabeth Meckes

The main result of this paper is a bound on the distance between the
distribution of an eigenfunction of the Laplacian on a compact  
Riemannian
manifold and the Gaussian distribution. If $X$ is a random point on a  
manifold
$M$ and $f$ is an eigenfunction of the Laplacian with $L^2$-norm one and
eigenvalue $-\mu$, then $$d_{TV}(f(X),Z)\le\frac{2}{\mu}\E\big|\|\nabla
f(X)\|^2-\E\|\nabla f(X) \|^2\big|.$$ This result is applied to  
construct
specific examples of spherical harmonics of arbitrary (odd) degree  
which are
close to Gaussian in distribution. A second application is given to  
random
linear combinations of eigenfunctions on flat tori.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1342

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5577. ASYMPTOTIC VELOCITY OF ONE DIMENSIONAL DIFFUSIONS WITH PERIODIC  
DRIFT

P.Collet S.Martinez

We consider the asymptotic behaviour of the solution of one dimensional
stochastic differential equations and Langevin equations in periodic
backgrounds with zero average. We prove that in several such models,  
there is
generically a non vanishing asymptotic velocity, despite of the fact  
that the
average of the background is zero.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1435

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5578. BOUNDARY HARNACK INEQUALITIES FOR REGIONAL FRACTIONAL LAPLACIAN

Qingyang Guan

Let 1<\alpha<2. We prove boundary Harnack inequalities for regional
fractional Laplacian on C^{1,1} open set G in \R^n. This operator is the
generator of the \alpha-stable-like process on G taking \kappa(x,y)I_ 
{G\times
G}/|x-y|^{n+\alpha} as the jumping measure. When \kappa is a  
constant, this
explicit boundary Harnack inequality was proved in Bogdan, Burdzy and  
Chen [9]
on C^{1,1} open sets. We prove that it holds also for C^{1,\beta-1}  
open sets
with \kappa\in C^1(\bar{G}\times\bar{G}) bounded between two positive  
values,
where 1<\alpha<\beta\leq 2.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1614

---------------------------------------------------------------

5579. UNIVERSALITY AT THE SOFT EDGE FOR SOME WHITE SAMPLE COVARIANCE  
MATRICES  ENSEMBLES

Sandrine Peche

For sample covariance matrices with iid entries with sub-Gaussian  
tails, when
both the number of samples and the number of variables become large  
and the
ratio approaches to one, it is a well-known result of A. Soshnikov  
that the
limiting distribution of the largest eigenvalue is same as the of  
Gaussian
samples. In this paper, we extend this result to two cases. The first  
case is
when the ratio approaches to an arbitrary finite value. The second  
case is when
the ratio becomes infinity or arbitrarily small.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1701

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5580. THE ROTOR-ROUTER MODEL ON REGULAR TREES

Itamar Landau and Lionel Levine

The rotor-router model is a deterministic analogue of random walk. It  
can be
used to define a deterministic growth model analogous to internal  
DLA. We show
that if the initial rotor configuration is acyclic, then the set of  
occupied
sites for rotor-router aggregation on an infinite regular tree is a  
perfect
ball whenever it can be. This is proved by defining the rotor-router  
group of a
graph, which we show is isomorphic to the sandpile group. We also  
address the
question of recurrence and transience: We give two rotor  
configurations on the
infinite ternary tree, one for which chips exactly alternate escaping to
infinity with returning to the origin, and one for which every chip  
returns to
the origin. We also characterize the possible "escape sequences" for the
ternary tree, that is, binary words $a_1 ... a_n$ for which there  
exists a
rotor configuration so that the $k$-th chip escapes to infinity if  
and only if
$a_k=1$.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1562

---------------------------------------------------------------

5581. A COARSE GRAINING FOR THE FORTUIN-KASTELEYN MEASURE IN RANDOM  
MEDIA

Marc Wouts (PMA)

By the mean of a multi-scale analysis we describe the typical  
geometrical
structure of the clusters under the FK measure in random media. Our  
result
holds in any dimension greater or equal to 2 provided that slab  
percolation
occurs under the annealed measure, which should be the case in the whole
supercritical phase. This work extends the one of Pisztora and  
provides an
essential tool for the analysis of the supercritical regime in  
disordered FK
models and in the corresponding disordered Ising and Potts models.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1630

---------------------------------------------------------------

5582. THE RATE OF CONVERGENCE OF EULER APPROXIMATIONS FOR SOLUTIONS  
OF  STOCHASTIC DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS DRIVEN BY FRACTIONAL BROWNIAN  
MOTION

Yuliya Mishura and Georgiy Shevchenko

The paper focuses on discrete-type approximations of solutions to
non-homogeneous stochastic differential equations (SDEs) involving  
fractional
Brownian motion (fBm). We prove that the rate of convergence for Euler
approximations of solutions of pathwise SDEs driven by fBm with Hurst  
index
$H>1/2$ can be estimated by $O(\delta^{2H-1})$ ($\delta$ is the  
diameter of
partition). For discrete-time approximations of Skorohod-type  
quasilinear
equation driven by fBm we prove that the rate of convergence is $O 
(\delta^H)$.
We also establish that the rate of weak convergence for the  
approximations of
solutions of pathwise SDE with bounded smooth coefficients is $O 
(\delta)$.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1773

---------------------------------------------------------------

5583. SEMIMARTINGALE STOCHASTIC APPROXIMATION PROCEDURES AND  
RECURSIVE  ESTIMATION

N. Lazrieva and  T. Sharia and T. Toronjadze

The semimartingale stochastic approximation procedure, namely, the
Robbins-Monro type SDE is introduced which naturally includes both  
generalized
stochastic approximation algorithms with martingale noises and recursive
parameter estimation procedures for statistical models associated with
semimartingales. General results concerning the asymptotic behaviour  
of the
solution are presented. In particular, the conditions ensuring the  
convergence,
rate of convergence and asymptotic expansion are established. The  
results
concerning the Polyak weighted averaging procedure are also presented.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1794

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5584. ANTICIPATED BACKWARD STOCHASTIC DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

Shige Peng and Zhe Yang

In this paper, we discuss a new type of differential equations which  
we call
anticipated backward stochastic differential equations (anticipated  
BSDEs). In
these equations the generator includes not only the values of  
solutions of the
present but also the future. We show that these anticipated BSDEs  
have unique
solutions, a comparison theorem for their solutions, and a duality  
between them
and stochastic differential delay equations.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1822

---------------------------------------------------------------

5585. REVESIBILITY OF CHORDAL SLE

Dapeng Zhan

We prove that the chordal SLE$_\kappa$ trace is reversible for
$\kappa\in(0,4]$.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1852

---------------------------------------------------------------

5586. ON LEVEL CROSSINGS FOR A GENERAL CLASS OF PIECEWISE- 
DETERMINISTIC MARKOV  PROCESSES

K. A. Borovkov and G. Last

We consider a piecewise-deterministic Markov process governed by a jump
intensity function, a rate function that determines the behaviour  
between
jumps, and a stochastic kernel describing the conditional  
distribution of jump
sizes. We study the point process of upcrossings of a level $b$ by  
the Markov
process. Our main result shows that, under a suitable scaling $\nu(b) 
$, the
point process converges, as $b$ tends to infinity, weakly to a  
geometrically
compound Poisson process. We also prove a version of Rice's formula  
relating
the stationary density of the process to level crossing intensities.  
This
formula provides an interpretation of the scaling factor $\nu(b)$.  
While our
proof of the limit theorem requires additional assumptions, Rice's  
formula
holds whenever the (stationary) overall intensity of jumps is finite.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1863

---------------------------------------------------------------

5587. A CRITERION FOR TRANSIENCE OF MULTIDIMENSIONAL BRANCHING RANDOM  
WALK IN  RANDOM ENVIRONMENT

Sebastian M\"uller

We develop a criterion for transience for a general model of  
branching Markov
chains. In the case of multi-dimensional branching random walk in random
environment (BRWRE) this criterion becomes explicit. In particular,  
we show
that \emph{Condition L} of Comets and Popov is necessary and  
sufficient for
transience as conjectured. Furthermore, the criterion applies to two  
important
classes of branching random walks and implies that the critical  
branching
random walk is transient resp. dies out locally.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1874

---------------------------------------------------------------

5588. NONCOMMUTATIVE BURKHOLDER/ROSENTHAL INEQUALITIES II: APPLICATIONS

Marius Junge and Quanhua Xu

We show norm estimates for the sum of independent random variables in
noncommutative $L_p$-spaces for $1<p<\infty$ following our previous  
work. These
estimates generalize the classical Rosenthal inequality in the  
commutative
case. Among applications, we derive an equivalence for the $p$-norm  
of the
singular values of a random matrix with independent entries, and  
characterize
those symmetric subspaces and unitary ideals which can be realized as  
subspaces
of a noncommutative $L_p$ for $2<p<\infty$.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1952

---------------------------------------------------------------

5589. ENERGY OF ZEROS OF RANDOM SECTIONS ON RIEMANN SURFACE

Qi Zhong

The purpose of this paper is to determine the asymptotic of the average
energy of a configuration of N zeros of system of random polynomials  
of degree
N as N tends to infinity and more generally the zeros of random  
holomorphic
sections of a line bundle L over any Riemann surface M. And we  
compare our
results to the well-known minimum of energies.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.2000

---------------------------------------------------------------

5590. OPTIMAL QUANTIZATION FOR THE PRICING OF SWING OPTIONS

Olivier Aj Bardou (GDF-RDD) and  Sandrine Bouthemy (GDF-RDD) and   
Gilles  Pag\`es (PMA)

In this paper, we investigate a numerical algorithm for the pricing  
of swing
options, relying on the so-called optimal quantization method. The  
numerical
procedure is described in details and numerous simulations are  
provided to
assert its efficiency. In particular, we carry out a comparison with the
Longstaff-Schwartz algorithm.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.2110

---------------------------------------------------------------

5591. A TREE APPROACH TO $P$-VARIATION AND TO INTEGRATION

Jean Picard

We consider a real-valued path; it is possible to associate a tree to  
this
path, and we explore the relations between the tree, the properties of
$p$-variation of the path, and integration with respect to the path. In
particular, the fractal dimension of the tree is estimated from the  
variations
of the path, and Young integrals with respect to the path, as well as  
integrals
from the rough paths theory, are written as integrals on the tree.  
Examples
include some stochastic paths such as martingales, L\'evy processes and
fractional Brownian motions.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.2128

---------------------------------------------------------------

5592. PERCOLATION CROSSING FORMULAS AND CONFORMAL FIELD THEORY

Jacob J. H. Simmons and  Peter Kleban and  and Robert M. Ziff

Using conformal field theory, we derive several new crossing formulas  
at the
two-dimensional percolation point. High-precision simulation confirms  
these
results. Integrating them gives a unified derivation of Cardy's  
formula for the
horizontal crossing probability $\Pi_h(r)$, Watts' formula for the
horizontal-vertical crossing probability $\Pi_{hv}(r)$, and Cardy's  
formula for
the expected number of clusters crossing horizontally $\mathcal{N}_h 
(r)$. The
main step in our approach implies the identification of the  
derivative of one
primary operator with another. We present operator identities that  
support this
idea and suggest the presence of additional symmetry in $c=0$  
conformal field
theories.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1933

---------------------------------------------------------------

5593. BROWNIAN MOTION, "DIVERSE AND UNDULATING"

Bertrand Duplantier

We describe in detail the history of Brownian motion, as well as the
contributions of Einstein, Sutherland, Smoluchowski, Bachelier,  
Perrin and
Langevin to its theory. The always topical importance in physics of  
the theory
of Brownian motion is illustrated by recent biophysical experiments,  
where it
serves, for instance, for the measurement of the pulling force on a  
single DNA
molecule.
   In a second part, we stress the mathematical importance of the  
theory of
Brownian motion, illustrated by two chosen examples. The by-now classic
representation of the Newtonian potential by Brownian motion is  
explained in an
elementary way. We conclude with the description of recent progress  
seen in the
geometry of the planar Brownian curve. At its heart lie the concepts of
conformal invariance and multifractality, associated with the  
potential theory
of the Brownian curve itself.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.1951

---------------------------------------------------------------

5594. PREDICTABILITY, ENTROPY AND INFORMATION OF INFINITE  
TRANSFORMATIONS

Jon. Aaronson and Kyewon Koh Park

We show that a certain type of conservative, ergodic measure preserving
transformation always has a maximal zero entropy factor, generated by
predictable sets. We also consider distribution asymptotics of  
information;
e.g. for Boole's transformation, information is asymptotically mod- 
normal, a
property shared by certain ergodic, probability preserving  
transformations with
zero entropy.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.2148

---------------------------------------------------------------

5595. ON THE CONVERGENCE TO EQUILIBRIUM OF KAC'S RANDOM WALK ON MATRICES

Roberto I. Oliveira

We consider Kac's random walk on n-dimensional rotation matrices,  
where each
step is a random rotation in the plane generated by two randomly picked
coordinates. We show that this process converges to the uniform  
(Haar) measure
in the (Wasserstein) transportation cost metric in O(n^2 ln n) steps.  
This
improves on previous results of Diaconis/Saloff Coste and Pak/Sidenko  
and is a
ln n factor away from being optimal. Our proof method includes a  
general result
akin to the path coupling method of Bubley and Dyer. Suppose that P  
is a Markov
chain on a Polish length space (M,d) and that for all x,y in M with d 
(x,y)<< 1
there is a coupling (X,Y) of one step from P from x and y  
(respectively) that
is (c+o(1))-contracting on average. Then the map from a initial  
distribution m
to the distribution mP after one step is c-contracting in the  
transportation
cost metric. Other applications of this result are also presented.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.2253

---------------------------------------------------------------

5596. ON RANDOMIZED STOPPING

David \v{S}i\v{s}ka and  Istv\'an Gy\"ongy

A general result on the method of randomized stopping is proved. It is
applied to optimal stopping of controlled diffusion processes with  
unbounded
coefficients to reduce it to optimal control problem without  
stopping. This is
motivated by recent results of Krylov on numerical solutions to the  
Bellman
equation.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.2302

---------------------------------------------------------------

5597. CADLAG CURVES OF SLE DRIVEN BY LEVY PROCESSES

Qingyang Guan

Schramm Loewner Evolutions (SLE) are random increasing hulls defined  
through
the Loewner equation driven by Brownian motion. It is known that the  
increasing
hulls are generated by continuous curves. When the driving process is  
of the
form \sqrt{\kappa} B+\theta^{1/\alpha}S for a Brownian motion B and a  
symmetric
\alpha-stable process S with \kappa not equal to 4 and 8, we prove  
that the
corresponding increasing hulls are generated by Cadlag curves.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.2321

---------------------------------------------------------------

5598. A NOTE ON THE DIFFUSIVITY OF FINITE-RANGE ASYMMETRIC EXCLUSION  
PROCESSES  ON Z

Jeremy Quastel and Benedek Valko

The diffusivity $D(t)$ of finite-range asymmetric exclusion processes on
$\mathbb Z$ with non-zero drift is expected to be of order $t^{1/3}$.
Sepp\"{a}l\"ainen and Bal\'azs recently proved this conjecture for  
the nearest
neighbor case. We extend their results to general finite range  
exclusion by
proving that the Laplace transform of the diffusivity is of the  
conjectured
order. We also obtain the correct order pointwise upper bound for $D 
(t)$.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.2416

---------------------------------------------------------------

5599. ON THE FREEZING OF VARIABLES IN RANDOM CONSTRAINT SATISFACTION  
PROBLEMS

Guilhem Semerjian

The set of solutions of random constraint satisfaction problems (zero  
energy
groundstates of mean-field diluted spin glasses) undergoes several  
structural
phase transitions as the amount of constraints is increased. This set  
first
breaks down into a large number of well separated clusters. At the  
freezing
transition, which is in general distinct from the clustering one, some
variables (spins) take the same value in all solutions of a given  
cluster. In
this paper we study the critical behavior around the freezing  
transition, which
appears in the unfrozen phase as the divergence of the sizes of the
rearrangements induced in response to the modification of a variable.  
The
formalism is developed on generic constraint satisfaction problems  
and applied
in particular to the random satisfiability of boolean formulas and to  
the
coloring of random graphs. The computation is first performed in  
random tree
ensembles, for which we underline a connection with percolation  
models and with
the reconstruction problem of information theory. The validity of  
these results
for the original random ensembles is then discussed in the framework  
of the
cavity method.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.2147

---------------------------------------------------------------

5600. NONCOLLIDING BROWNIAN MOTION AND DETERMINANTAL PROCESSES

Makoto Katori and Hideki Tanemura

A system of one-dimensional Brownian motions (BMs) conditioned never to
collide with each other is realized as (i) Dyson's BM model, which is  
a process
of eigenvalues of hermitian matrix-valued diffusion process in the  
Gaussian
unitary ensemble (GUE), and as (ii) the $h$-transform of absorbing BM  
in a Weyl
chamber, where the harmonic function $h$ is the product of  
differences of
variables (the Vandermonde determinant). The Karlin-McGregor formula  
gives
determinantal expression to the transition probability density of  
absorbing BM.
We show from the Karlin-McGregor formula, if the initial state is in the
eigenvalue distribution of GUE, the noncolliding BM is a  
determinantal process,
in the sense that any multitime correlation function is given by a  
determinant
specified by a matrix-kernel. By taking appropriate scaling limits,  
spatially
homogeneous and inhomogeneous infinite determinantal processes are  
derived. We
note that the determinantal processes related with noncolliding  
diffusion
processes have a feature in common such that the matrix-kernels are  
expressed
using spectral projections of appropriate effective Hamiltonians.  
Using the
common properties of matrix-kernels, continuity of processes in time  
is proved
and Dirichlet forms are provided.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.2460

---------------------------------------------------------------

5601. ON ASYMPTOTIC PROXIMITY OF DISTRIBUTIONS

Youri Davydov and Vladimir Rotar

We consider some general facts concerning convergence P_{n}-Q_{n}\to  
0 as
n\to \infty, where P_{n} and Q_{n} are probability measures in a  
complete
separable metric space. The main point is that the sequences {P_{n}} and
{Q_{n}} are not assumed to be tight. We compare different possible  
definitions
of the above convergence, and establish some general properties.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.2677

---------------------------------------------------------------

5602. REAL ZEROS AND PARTITIONS WITHOUT SINGLETON BLOCKS

Miklos Bona

We prove that the generating polynomials of partitions of an $n$- 
element set
into non-singleton blocks, counted by the number of blocks, have real  
roots
only. We apply this information to find the most likely number of  
blocks. As
another application of the real zeros result, we prove that the  
number of
blocks is normally distributed in such partitions. We present a quick  
way to
prove the corresponding statement for cycles of permutations in which  
each
cycle is longer than a given integer $r$.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.2734

---------------------------------------------------------------

5603. ON THE REPRODUCING KERNEL HILBERT SPACES ASSOCIATED WITH THE  
FRACTIONAL  AND BI-FRACTIONAL BROWNIAN MOTIONS

Daniel Alpay and David Levanony

We present decompositions of various positive kernels as integrals or  
sums of
positive kernels. Within this framework we study the reproducing  
kernel Hilbert
spaces associated with the fractional and bi-fractional Brownian  
motions. As a
tool, we define a new function of two complex variables, which is a  
natural
generalization of the classical Gamma function for the setting we  
consider


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.2863

---------------------------------------------------------------

5604. OPTIMAL STOPPING WITH RANK-DEPENDENT LOSS

Alexander V. Gnedin

For $\tau$ a stopping rule adapted to a sequence of $n$ iid  
observations, we
define the loss to be $\ex [ q(R_\tau)]$, where $R_j$ is the rank of  
the $j$th
observation, and $q$ is a nondecreasing function of the rank. This  
setting
covers both the best choice problem with $q(r)={\bf 1}(r>1)$, and  
Robbins'
problem with $q(r)=r$. As $n\to\infty$ the stopping problem acquires  
a limiting
form which is associated with the planar Poisson process. Inspecting  
the limit
we establish bounds on the stopping value and reveal qualitative  
features of
the optimal rule. In particular, we show that the complete history  
dependence
persists in the limit, thus answering a question asked by Bruss in  
the context
of Robbins' problem.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.2976

---------------------------------------------------------------

5605. A CONDITIONAL 0-1 LAW FOR THE SYMMETRIC SIGMA-FIELD

Patrizia Berti and  Pietro Rigo

Let (\Omega,\mathcal{B},P) be a probability space, \mathcal{A} a
sub-sigma-field of \mathcal{B}, and \mu a regular conditional  
distribution for
P given \mathcal{A}. For various, classically interesting, choices of
\mathcal{A} (including tail and symmetric) the following 0-1 law is  
proved:
There is a set A_0 in \mathcal{A} such that P(A_0)=1 and \mu(\omega) 
(A) is 0 or
1 for all A in \mathcal{A} and \omega in A_0. Provided \mathcal{B} is  
countably
generated (and certain regular conditional distributions exist), the  
result
applies whatever P is.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3028

---------------------------------------------------------------

5606. STATISTICS OF THE NUMBER OF ZERO CROSSINGS : FROM RANDOM  
POLYNOMIALS TO  DIFFUSION EQUATION

Gregory Schehr and  Satya N. Majumdar

We consider a class of real random polynomials, indexed by an integer  
d, of
large degree n and focus on the number of real roots of such random
polynomials. For n even, the probability that such polynomials have  
no real
root decays as a power law n^{-4 \theta(d)} where \theta(d)>0 is the  
exponent
associated to the decay of the persistence probability for the diffusion
equation with random initial conditions in space dimension d.  
Considering the
particular case d=1, this connection allows for a physical  
realization of real
random polynomials. We further show that the probability that such  
polynomials
have exactly k real roots (n and k having the same parity) has an  
unusual
scaling form given by n^{-\tilde \phi(k/\log n)} where \tilde \phi(x) a
universal large deviation function.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.2648

---------------------------------------------------------------

5607. ELEMENTARY PROOF FOR ASYMPTOTICS OF LARGE HAAR-DISTRIBUTED  
UNITARY  MATRICES

Christian Mastrodonato and Roderich Tumulka

We provide an elementary proof for a theorem due to Petz and R\'effy  
which
states that for a random $n\times n$ unitary matrix with distribution  
given by
the Haar measure on the unitary group U(n), the upper left (or any  
other)
$k\times k$ submatrix converges in distribution, after multiplying by a
normalization factor $\sqrt{n}$ and as $n\to\infty$, to a matrix of  
independent
complex Gaussian random variables with mean 0 and variance 1.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3146

---------------------------------------------------------------

5608. REDUCTION AND RECONSTRUCTION OF SYMMETRIC STOCHASTIC  
DIFFERENTIAL  EQUATIONS

Joan-Andreu L\'azaro-Cam\'{\i} and Juan-Pablo Ortega

We present reduction and reconstruction procedures for the solutions of
symmetric stochastic differential equations, similar to those  
available for
ordinary differential equations. The general methods introduced in  
the first
part of the paper are then adapted to the Hamiltonian case, which is  
studied
with special care and illustrated with several examples.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3156

---------------------------------------------------------------

5609. SMALL TIME EDGEWORTH-TYPE EXPANSIONS FOR WEAKLY CONVERGENT   
NONHOMOGENEOUS MARKOV CHAINS

Valentin Konakov and  Enno Mammen

We consider triangular arrays of Markov chains that converge weakly to a
diffusion process. Second order Edgeworth type expansions for transition
densities are proved. The paper differs from recent results in two  
respects. We
allow nonhomogeneous diffusion limits and we treat transition  
densities with
time lag converging to zero. Small time asymptotics are motivated by
statistical applications and by resulting approximations for the  
joint density
of diffusion values at an increasing grid of points.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3139

---------------------------------------------------------------

5610. DIFFERENTIABLE PERTURBATIONS OF ORNSTEIN-UHLENBECK OPERATORS

Luigi Manca

We prove an extension theorem for a small perturbation of the
Ornstein-Uhlenbeck operator $(L,D(L))$ in the space of all uniformly  
continuous
and bounded functions $f:H\to \Rset$, where $H$ is a separable  
Hilbert space.
We consider a perturbation of the form $N_0\phi=L\phi+< D\phi,F>$  
where $F:H\to
H$ is bounded and Fr\'echet differentiable with uniformly continuous and
bounded differential. Hence, we prove that $N_0$ is $m$-dissipative  
and its
closure in $C_b(H)$ coincides with the infinitesimal generator of a  
diffusion
semigroup associated to a stochastic differential equation in $H$.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3126

---------------------------------------------------------------

5611. DIFFUSION CONSTANTS AND MARTINGALES FOR SENILE RANDOM WALKS

Wouter Kager

We derive diffusion constants and martingales for senile random walks  
with
the help of a time-change. We provide direct computations of the  
diffusion
constants for the time-changed walks. Alternatively, the values of these
constants can be derived from martingales associated with the time- 
changed
walks. Using an inverse time-change, the diffusion constants for  
senile random
walks are then obtained via these martingales. When the walks are  
diffusive,
weak convergence to Brownian motion can be shown using a martingale  
central
limit theorem.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3305

---------------------------------------------------------------

5612. INVARIANT MEASURES FOR A STOCHASTIC KURAMOTO-SIVASHINKY EQUATION

B. Ferrario

For the 1-dimensional Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation with random  
forcing term,
existence and uniqueness of solutions is proved. Then, the Markovian  
semigroup
is well defined; its properties are analyzed, in order to provide  
sufficient
conditions for existence and uniqueness of invariant measures for this
stochastic equation. Finally, regularity results are obtained by  
means of
Girsanov theorem.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3321

---------------------------------------------------------------

5613. A FUNCTIONAL LIMIT THEOREM FOR A 2D-RANDOM WALK WITH DEPENDENT  
MARGINALS

Nadine Guillotin-Plantard (ICJ) and  Arnaud Le Ny (LM-Orsay)

We prove a non-standard functional limit theorem for a two  
dimensional simple
random walk on some randomly oriented lattices. This random walk,  
already known
to be transient, has different horizontal and vertical fluctuations  
leading to
different normalizations in the functional limit theorem, with a non- 
Gaussian
horizontal behavior. We also prove that the horizontal and vertical  
components
are not asymptotically independent.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3342

---------------------------------------------------------------

5614. THE TWO-PARAMETER POISSON-DIRICHLET POINT PROCESS

Kenji Handa (Saga University)

The two-parameter Poisson-Dirichlet distribution is a probability
distribution on the totality of positive decreasing sequences with  
sum 1 and
hence considered to govern masses of a random discrete distribution. A
characterization of the associated point process (i.e., the random point
process obtained by regarding the masses as points in the positive  
real line)
is given in terms of the correlation functions. Relying on this, we  
apply the
theory of point processes to reveal mathematical structure of the two- 
parameter
Poisson-Dirichlet distribution. Also, developing the Laplace  
transform approach
due to Pitman and Yor, we will be able to extend several results  
previously
known for the one-parameter case, and the Markov-Krein identity for the
generalized Dirichlet process is discussed from a point of view of  
functional
analysis based on the two-parameter Poisson-Dirichlet distribution.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3496

---------------------------------------------------------------

5615. LARGE SCALE PROPERTIES OF THE IIIC FOR 2D PERCOLATION

Lincoln Chayes and  Pierre Nolin

We reinvestigate the 2D problem of the inhomogeneous incipient infinite
cluster where, in an independent percolation model, the density  
decays to p_c
with an inverse power, \lambda, of the distance to the origin.  
Assuming the
existence of critical exponents (as is known in the case of the  
triangular site
lattice) if the power is less than 1/\nu, with \nu the correlation  
length
exponent, we demonstrate an infinite cluster with scale dimension  
given by
D_H=2-\beta\lambda. Further, we investigate the critical case  
\lambda_c=1/\nu
and show that iterated logarithmic corrections will tip the balance  
between the
possibility and impossibility of an infinite cluster.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3570

---------------------------------------------------------------

5616. FUNCTIONAL LIMIT THEOREMS OF MARKOV PROCESSES ON A HALF LINE  
VIA  PATHWISE CONVERGENCE OF EXCURSIONS

Kouji Yano

An invariance principle is obtained for a Markov process on a half  
line with
continuous paths on the interior. Investigated are the domains of  
attraction of
the two different types of self-similar processes introduced by  
Lamperti. Our
approach is to establish pathwise convergence of excursions, which is  
based on
It\^o's excursion theory and a recent result of convergence of excursion
measures by Fitzsimmons and the author.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3588

---------------------------------------------------------------

5617. PSEUDOPROCESSES GOVERNED BY HIGHER-ORDER FRACTIONAL  
DIFFERENTIAL  EQUATIONS

Luisa Beghin

We study here a heat-type differential equation of order n greater  
than two,
in the case where the time-derivative is supposed to be fractional. The
corresponding solution can be described as the transition function of a
pseudoprocess (coinciding with the one governed by the standard,
non-fractional, equation) with a time argument T which is itself  
random. The
distribution of T is presented together with some features of the  
solution
(such as analytic expressions for its moments).


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3598

---------------------------------------------------------------

5618. SPINAL PARTITIONS AND INVARIANCE UNDER RE-ROOTING OF CONTINUUM  
RANDOM  TREES

B\'en\'edicte Haas (CEREMADE) and  Jim Pitman and  Matthias Winkel

We develop some theory of spinal decompositions of discrete and  
continuous
fragmentation trees. Specifically, we consider a coarse and a fine  
spinal
integer partition derived from spinal tree decompositions. We prove  
that for a
two-parameter Poisson-Dirichlet family of continuous fragmentation  
trees,
including the stable trees of Duquesne and Le Gall, the fine  
partition is
obtained from the coarse one by shattering each of its parts  
independently,
according to the same law. As a second application of spinal  
decompositions, we
prove that among the continuous fragmentation trees, stable trees are  
the only
ones whose distribution is invariant under uniform re-rooting.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3602

---------------------------------------------------------------

5619. BURKHOLDER'S SUBMARTINGALES FROM A STOCHASTIC CALCULUS PERSPECTIVE

Giovanni Peccati (LSTA) and  Marc Yor (PMA)

We provide a simple proof, as well as several generalizations, of a  
recent
result by Davis and Suh, characterizing a class of continuous  
submartingales
and supermartingales that can be expressed in terms of a squared  
Brownian
motion and of some appropriate powers of its maximum. Our techniques  
involve
elementary stochastic calculus, as well as the Doob-Meyer  
decomposition of
continuous submartingales. These results can be used to obtain an  
explicit
expression of the constants appearing in the Burkholder-Davis-Gundy
inequalities. A connection with some balayage formulae is also  
established.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3633

---------------------------------------------------------------

5620. OPTIMAL CROSS HEDGING FOR INSURANCE DERIVATIVES

Stefan Ankirchner and  Peter Imkeller and  Alexandre Popier

We consider insurance derivatives depending on an external physical risk
process, for example a temperature in a low dimensional climate  
model. We
assume that this process is correlated with a tradable financial  
asset. We
derive optimal strategies for exponential utility from terminal wealth,
determine the indifference prices of the derivatives, and interpret  
them in
terms of diversification pressure. Moreover we check the optimal  
investment
strategies for standard admissibility criteria. Finally we compare  
the static
risk connected with an insurance derivative to the reduced risk due to a
dynamic investment into the correlated asset. We show that dynamic  
hedging
reduces the risk aversion in terms of entropic risk measures by a factor
related to the correlation.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3760

---------------------------------------------------------------

5621. CIRCULAR LAW, EXTREME SINGULAR VALUES AND POTENTIAL THEORY

Guangming Pan and  Wang Zhou

Consider the empirical spectral distribution of complex random $n 
\times n$
matrix whose entries are independent and identically distributed random
variables with mean zero and variance $1/n$. In this paper, via applying
potential theory in the complex plane and analyzing extreme singular  
values, we
prove that this distribution converges, with probability one, to the  
uniform
distribution over the unit disk in the complex plane, i.e. the well  
known
circular law, under the finite fourth moment assumption on matrix  
elements.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3773

---------------------------------------------------------------

5622. POISSON APPROXIMATION FOR LARGE CLUSTERS IN THE SUPERCRITICAL  
FK MODEL

Olivier Couronn\'e (MODAL'X)

Using the Chen-Stein method, we show that the spatial distribution of  
large
finite clusters in the supercritical FK model approximates a Poisson  
process
when the ratio weak mixing property holds.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3781

---------------------------------------------------------------

5623. ON MEASURE SOLUTIONS OF BACKWARD STOCHASTIC DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

Stefan Ankirchner and  Peter Imkeller and  Alexandre Popier

We consider backward stochastic differential equations (BSDE) with  
nonlinear
generators typically of quadratic growth in the control variable. A  
measure
solution of such a BSDE will be understood as a probability measure  
under which
the generator is seen as vanishing, so that the classical solution  
can be
reconstructed by a combination of the operations of conditioning and  
using
martingale representations. We show that classical solutions entail the
existence of measure solutions. To go the other way, we prove a priori
inequalities providing bounds on exponential moments of the control  
processes.
Then we give some algorithms based on approximations of singular  
generators by
smoother ones, or of exponentially integrable terminal variables by  
bounded
ones, which construct measure solutions from first principles, in  
particular
without reference to classical solutions. This way we provide an  
elegant and
efficient method to at least recover classical existence Theorems for  
BSDE.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3788

---------------------------------------------------------------

5624. EXTENSION OF THE GENERALISED INDUCTIVE APPROACH TO THE LACE  
EXPANSION:  FULL PROOF

Remco van der Hofstad and  Mark Holmes and  Gordon Slade

This paper extends the inductive approach to the lace expansion of  
van der
Hofstad and Slade in order to prove Gaussian asymptotic behaviour for  
models
with critical dimension other than 4. The results are applied by  
Holmes to
study sufficiently spread-out lattice trees in dimensions d>8 and may  
also be
applicable to percolation in dimensions d>6.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3798

---------------------------------------------------------------

5625. FAST COMPUTATION BY BLOCK PERMANENTS OF CUMULATIVE  
DISTRIBUTION  FUNCTIONS OF ORDER STATISTICS FROM SEVERAL POPULATIONS

Deborah H. Glueck and  Anis Karimpour-Fard and  Jan Mandel and  Larry  
Hunter and   Keith E. Muller

The joint cumulative distribution function for order statistics  
arising from
several different populations is given in terms of the distribution  
function of
the populations. The computational cost of the formula in the case of  
two
populations is still exponential in the worst case, but it is a dramatic
improvement compared to the general formula by Bapat and Beg. In the  
case when
only the joint distribution function of a subset of the order  
statistics of
fixed size is needed, the complexity is polynomial, for the case of two
populations.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.3851

---------------------------------------------------------------

5626. ALMOST SURE FUNCTIONAL CENTRAL LIMIT THEOREM FOR BALLISTIC  
RANDOM WALK  IN RANDOM ENVIRONMENT

Firas Rassoul-Agha and Timo Seppalainen

We consider a multidimensional random walk in a product random  
environment
with bounded steps, transience in some spatial direction, and high  
enough
moments on the regeneration time. We prove an invariance principle, or
functional central limit theorem, under almost every environment for the
diffusively scaled centered walk. The main point behind the invariance
principle is that the quenched mean of the walk behaves subdiffusively.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.4116

---------------------------------------------------------------

5627. A PREFERENTIAL ATTACHMENT MODEL WITH RANDOM INITIAL DEGREES

Maria Deijfen and  Henri van den Esker and  Remco van der Hofstad  
and  Gerard  Hooghiemstra

In this paper, a random graph process {G(t)}_{t\geq 1}$ is studied  
and its
degree sequence is analyzed. Let {W_t}_{t\geq 1} be an i.i.d.  
sequence. The
graph process is defined so that, at each integer time t, a new  
vertex, with
W_t edges attached to it, is added to the graph. The new edges added  
at time t
are then preferentially connected to older vertices, i.e.,  
conditionally on
G(t-1), the probability that a given edge is connected to vertex i is
proportional to d_i(t-1)+\delta, where d_i(t-1) is the degree of  
vertex i at
time t-1, independently of the other edges. The main result is that the
asymptotical degree sequence for this process is a power law with  
exponent
\tau=\min{\tau_{W}, \tau_{P}}, where \tau_{W} is the power-law  
exponent of the
initial degrees {W_t}_{t\geq 1} and $\tau_{P} the exponent predicted  
by pure
preferential attachment. This result extends previous work by Cooper and
Frieze, which is surveyed.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.4151

---------------------------------------------------------------

5628. DIAMETERS IN PREFERENTIAL ATTACHMENT MODELS

Remco van der Hofstad and  Gerard Hooghiemstra

In this paper, we investigate the diameter in preferential attachment  
(PA-)
models, thus quantifying the statement that these models are small  
worlds.
There is a substantial amount of literature proving that, in quite  
generality,
PA-graphs possess power-law degree sequences with exponent \tau>2.  
The models
studied here are such that edges are attached to older vertices  
proportional to
the degree plus a constant, i.e., we consider linear PA-models. We  
prove that
the diameter is bounded by a constant times \log{t}, where t is the  
size of the
graph. When the power-law exponent \tau exceeds 3, then we also prove  
a lower
bound of the form \log{t}/\log\log{t}}, while when \tau\in (2,3), we  
improve
the upper bound to a constant times \log\log{t}. These bounds are  
consistent
with predictions by physicists that the distances in PA-graphs are  
similar to
the ones in other scale-free random graphs, where distances have been  
shown to
be of order \log\log{t}, when \tau\in (2,3), and of order \log{t}  
when \tau>3.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.4153

---------------------------------------------------------------

5629. THE ODE METHOD FOR SOME SELF-INTERACTING DIFFUSIONS ON NON- 
COMPACT  SPACES

A. Kurtzmann

Self-interacting diffusions are solutions to SDEs with a drift term  
depending
on the process and its normalized occupation measure $\mu_t$ (via an
interaction potential and a confinement potential). We establish a  
relation
between the asymptotic behavior of $\mu_t$ and the asymptotic  
behavior of a
deterministic dynamical flow (defined on the space of the Borel  
probability
measures). We extend previous results on $\mathbb{R}^d$ or more  
generally a
smooth complete connected Riemannian manifold without boundary. We  
will also
give some sufficient conditions for the convergence of $\mu_t$.  
Finally, we
will illustrate our study with an example on $\mathbb{R}^2$.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.4245

---------------------------------------------------------------

5630. DYNAMICAL DIOPHANTINE APPROXIMATION

Ai-Hua Fan (LAMFA) and  Joerg Schmeling and  Serge Troubetzkoy (CPT  
and  FRUMAM and   IML)

Let $\mu$ be a Gibbs measure of the doubling map $T$ of the circle.  
For a
$\mu$-generic point $x$ and a given sequence $\{r_n\} \subset \R^+$,  
consider
the intervals $(T^nx - r_n \pmod 1, T^nx + r_n \pmod 1)$. In analogy  
to the
classical Dvoretzky covering of the circle we study the covering  
properties of
this sequence of intervals. This study is closely related to the  
local entropy
function of the Gibbs measure and to hitting times for moving  
targets. A mass
transference principle is obtained for Gibbs measures which are  
multifractal.
Such a principle was shown by Beresnevich and Velani \cite{BV} only for
monofractal measures. In the symbolic language we completely describe  
the
combinatorial structure of a typical relatively short sequence, in  
particular
we can describe the occurrence of ''atypical'' relatively long words.  
Our
results have a direct and deep number-theoretical interpretation via
inhomogeneous diadic diophantine approximation by numbers belonging  
to a given
(diadic) diophantine class.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.4203

---------------------------------------------------------------

5631. ENTIERS AL\'EATOIRES, ENSEMBLES DE SIDON, DENSIT\'E DANS LE  
GROUPE DE  BOHR ET ENSEMBLES D'ANALYTICIT\'E

Jean-Pierre Kahane (LM-Orsay) and  Yitzhak Katznelson (U STANFORD)

We study properties of a sequence $\Lambda$ obtained by a  
randomselection of
integers $n$, where $n\in\Lambda$ with probability $\varpi_{n}$,  
independently
of the other choices. We distinguish two cases : if
$\limsup_{n\to\infty}n\varpi_{n}<\infty$, $\Lambda$ is a.s. a Sidon set,
non-dense in the Bohr group ; if $\lim_{n\to\infty}n\varpi_{n}=\infty 
$, then
$\Lambda$ is a.s. a set of analyticity and is dense in the Bohr group.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.4261

---------------------------------------------------------------

5632. LEARNING ABOUT A CATEGORICAL LATENT VARIABLE UNDER PRIOR NEAR- 
IGNORANCE

Alberto Piatti and Marco Zaffalon and Fabio Trojani and Marcus Hutter

It is well known that complete prior ignorance is not compatible with
learning, at least in a coherent theory of (epistemic) uncertainty.  
What is
less widely known, is that there is a state similar to full  
ignorance, that
Walley calls near-ignorance, that permits learning to take place. In  
this paper
we provide new and substantial evidence that also near-ignorance  
cannot be
really regarded as a way out of the problem of starting statistical  
inference
in conditions of very weak beliefs. The key to this result is  
focusing on a
setting characterized by a variable of interest that is latent. We  
argue that
such a setting is by far the most common case in practice, and we  
show, for the
case of categorical latent variables (and general manifest variables)  
that
there is a sufficient condition that, if satisfied, prevents learning  
to take
place under prior near-ignorance. This condition is shown to be easily
satisfied in the most common statistical problems.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.4312

---------------------------------------------------------------

5633. UTILITY MAXIMIZATION WITH A STOCHASTIC CLOCK AND AN UNBOUNDED  
RANDOM  ENDOWMENT

Gordan Zitkovic

We introduce a linear space of finitely additive measures to treat the
problem of optimal expected utility from consumption under a  
stochastic clock
and an unbounded random endowment process. In this way we establish  
existence
and uniqueness for a large class of utility maximization problems  
including the
classical ones of terminal wealth or consumption, as well as the  
problems
depending on a random time-horizon or multiple consumption instances.  
As an
example we treat explicitly the problem of maximizing the logarithmic  
utility
of a consumption stream, where the local time of an Ornstein- 
Uhlenbeck process
acts as a stochastic clock.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.4487

---------------------------------------------------------------

5634. EXPLICIT BOUNDS FOR THE APPROXIMATION ERROR IN BENFORD'S LAW

Lutz Duembgen and  Christoph Leuenberger

Benford's law states that for many random variables X > 0 the leading  
digit D
= D(X) satisfies approximately the equation P(D = d) = log_{10}(1 + 1/ 
d) for d
= 1,2,...,9. This phenomenon follows from another, maybe more  
intuitive fact,
applied to Y := log_{10}(X): For many real random variables Y, the  
remainder U
= U(Y) := Y - floor(Y) is approximately uniformly distributed on  
[0,1). The
present paper provides new explicit bounds for the latter  
approximation in
terms of the total variation of the density of Y or some derivative  
of it.
These bounds are an interesting alternative to traditional Fourier  
methods
which yield mostly qualitative results. As a by-product we obtain  
explicit
bounds for the approximation error in Benford's law.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.4488

---------------------------------------------------------------

5635. PATTERN THEOREMS, RATIO LIMIT THEOREMS AND GUMBEL MAXIMAL  
CLUSTERS FOR  RANDOM FIELDS

Remco van der Hofstad and Wouter Kager

We study occurrences of patterns on clusters of size n in random  
fields on
Z^d. We prove that for a given pattern, there is a constant a>0 such  
that the
probability that this pattern occurs at most an times on a cluster of  
size n is
exponentially small. Moreover, for random fields obeying a certain  
Markov
property, we show that the ratio between the numbers of occurrences  
of two
distinct patterns on a cluster is concentrated around a constant  
value. This
leads to an elegant and simple proof of the ratio limit theorem for  
these
random fields, which states that the ratio of the probabilities that the
cluster of the origin has sizes n+1 and n converges as n tends to  
infinity.
Implications for the maximal cluster in a finite box are discussed.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.4534

---------------------------------------------------------------

5636. MOLECULAR SPIDERS IN ONE DIMENSION

Tibor Antal and  P. L. Krapivsky and  and Kirone Mallick

Molecular spiders are synthetic bio-molecular systems which have  
"legs" made
of short single-stranded segments of DNA. Spiders move on a surface  
covered
with single-stranded DNA segments complementary to legs. Different  
mappings are
established between various models of spiders and simple exclusion  
processes.
For spiders with simple gait and varying number of legs we compute the
diffusion coefficient; when the hopping is biased we also compute their
velocity.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.2594

---------------------------------------------------------------

5637. MOLECULAR SPIDERS WITH MEMORY

Tibor Antal and P. L. Krapivsky

Synthetic bio-molecular spiders with "legs" made of single-stranded  
segments
of DNA can move on a surface which is also covered by single-stranded  
segments
of DNA complementary to the leg DNA. In experimental realizations,  
when a leg
detaches from a segment of the surface for the first time it alters that
segment, and legs subsequently bound to these altered segments more  
weakly.
Inspired by these experiments we investigate spiders moving along a
one-dimensional substrate, whose legs leave newly visited sites at a  
slower
rate than revisited sites. For a random walk (one-leg spider) the  
slowdown does
not effect the long time behavior. For a bipedal spider, however, the  
slowdown
generates an effective bias towards unvisited sites, and the spider  
behaves
similarly to the excited walk. Surprisingly, the slowing down of the  
spider at
new sites increases the diffusion coefficient and accelerates the  
growth of the
number of visited sites.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.2596

---------------------------------------------------------------

5638. ON THE SMALL BALL INEQUALITY IN ALL DIMENSIONS

Dmitry Bilyk and  Michael Lacey and  Armen Vagharshakyan

Let h_R denote an L ^{\infty} normalized Haar function adapted to a  
dyadic
rectangle R contained in the unit cube in dimension d. We establish a
non-trivial lower bound on the L^{\infty} norm of the `hyperbolic'  
sums $$ \sum
_{|R|=2 ^{-n}} \alpha(R) h_R (x) $$ The lower bound is non-trivial in  
that we
improve the average case bound by n^{\eta} for some positive \eta, a  
function
of dimension d. As far as the authors know, this is the first result  
of this
type in dimension 4 and higher.
   This question is related to Conjectures in (1) Irregularity of  
Distributions,
(2) Approximation Theory and (3) Probability Theory. The method of  
proof of
this paper gives new results on these conjectures in all dimensions 4  
and
higher.
   This paper builds upon prior work of Jozef Beck, from 1989, and  
first two
authors from 2006. These results were of the same nature, but only in  
dimension
3.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.4619

---------------------------------------------------------------

5639. A FILTERED VERSION OF THE BIPOLAR THEOREM OF BRANNATH AND  
SCHACHERMAYER

Gordan Zitkovic

We extend the Bipolar Theorem of Brannath and Schachermayer (1999) to  
the
space of nonnegative cadlag supermartingales on a filtered  
probability space.
We formulate the notion of fork-convexity as an analogue to convexity  
in this
setting. As an intermediate step in the proof of our main result we  
establish a
conditional version of the Bipolar theorem. In an application to  
mathematical
finance we describe the structure of the set of dual processes of the  
utility
maximization problem of Kramkov and Schachermayer (1999) and give a
budget-constraint characterization of admissible consumption  
processes in an
incomplete semimartingale market.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0049

---------------------------------------------------------------

5640. OPTIMAL CONSUMPTION FROM INVESTMENT AND RANDOM ENDOWMENT IN  
INCOMPLETE  SEMIMARTINGALE MARKETS

Ioannis Karatzas and  Gordan Zitkovic

We consider the problem of maximizing expected utility from  
consumption in a
constrained incomplete semimartingale market with a random endowment  
process,
and establish a general existence and uniqueness result using  
techniques from
convex duality. The notion of asymptotic elasticity of Kramkov and
Schachermayer is extended to the time-dependent case. By imposing no  
smoothness
requirements on the utility function in the temporal argument, we can  
treat
both pure consumption and combined consumption/terminal wealth  
problems, in a
common framework. To make the duality approach possible, we provide a  
detailed
characterization of the enlarged dual domain which is reminiscent of the
enlargement of $L^1$ to its topological bidual $(L^{\infty})^*$, a  
space of
finitely-additive measures. As an application, we treat the case of a
constrained It\^ o-process market-model.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0051

---------------------------------------------------------------

5641. THE LARGEST EIGENVALUE OF FINITE RANK DEFORMATION OF LARGE WIGNER

Mireille Capitaine (LSProba) and  Catherine Donati-Martin (PMA) and   
Delphine  F\'eral (LSProba)

We investigate the asymptotic spectrum of deformed Wigner matrices. The
deformation is deterministic will all but finitely many eigenvalues  
equal to
zero. We show that, as soon as the first largest or last smallest  
eigenvalues
of the deformation are sufficiently far from 0, the corresponding  
eigenvalues
of the deformed Wigner matrix almost surely exit the limiting semicircle
compact support as the size of the matrix becomes large. In the  
particular case
of a diagonal pertubation of rank 1, we prove that the fluctuations  
of the
largest eigenvalue are not universal and depend on the particular  
distribution
of the entries of the Wigner matrix.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0136

---------------------------------------------------------------

5642. A CLT FOR INFORMATION-THEORETIC STATISTICS OF GRAM RANDOM  
MATRICES WITH  A GIVEN VARIANCE PROFILE

Walid Hachem (LTCI) and  Philippe Loubaton (IGM-LabInfo) and  Jamal  
Najim  (LTCI)

Consider a $N\times n$ random matrix $Y_n=(Y_{ij}^{n})$ where the  
entries are
given by $$ Y_{ij}^{n}=\frac{\sigma_{ij}(n)}{\sqrt{n}} X_{ij}^{n} $$ the
$X_{ij}^{n}$ being centered, independent and identically distributed  
random
variables with unit variance and $(\sigma_{ij}(n); 1\le i\le N, 1\le j 
\le n)$
being an array of numbers we shall refer to as a variance profile. We  
study in
this article the fluctuations of the random variable $$ \log\det(Y_n  
Y_n^* +
\rho I_N) $$ where $Y^*$ is the Hermitian adjoint of $Y$ and $\rho > 0 
$ is an
additional parameter. We prove that when centered and properly  
rescaled, this
random variable satisfies a Central Limit Theorem (CLT) and has a  
Gaussian
limit whose parameters are identified. A complete description of the  
scaling
parameter is given; in particular it is shown that an additional term  
appears
in this parameter in the case where the 4$^\textrm{th}$ moment of the
$X_{ij}$'s differs from the 4$^{\textrm{th}}$ moment of a Gaussian  
random
variable. Such a CLT is of interest in the field of wireless  
communications.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0166

---------------------------------------------------------------

5643. A NON COMMUTATIVE SEWING LEMMA

Denis Feyel and  Arnaud De La Pradelle (IMJ) and  Gabriel Mokobodzki  
(IMJ)

In a preceding paper [E.J.ofProb.34,860-892,(2006)], we proved a  
sewing lemma
which was a key result for the study of Holder continuous functions.  
In this
paper we give a non-commutative version of this lemma with some  
applications.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0202

---------------------------------------------------------------

5644. ASYMPTOTIC RESULTS ON THE LENGTH OF COALESCENT TREES

Jean-Fran\c{c}ois Delmas (CERMICS) and  Jean-St\'ephane Dhersin  
(MAP5) and   Arno Siri-Jegousse (MAP5)

We give the asymptotic distribution of the length of partial  
coalescent trees
for Beta and related coalescents. This allows us to give the asymptotic
distribution of the number of (neutral) mutations in the partial  
tree. This is
a first step to study the asymptotic distribution of a natural  
estimator of DNA
mutation rate for species with large families.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0204

---------------------------------------------------------------

5645. THE M-ESTIMATOR IN A MULTI-PHASE RANDOM NONLINEAR MODEL

Gabriela Ciuperca

We consider a multi-phase random regression model, discontinuous in each
change-point, with an arbitrary error $\epsilon$. In the case that  
the number
of jumps is known, the M-estimator for the locations of the jumps and  
for the
coefficient parameters are studied. These estimators are consistent  
and the
distribution for the estimators of the coefficients is Gaussian. The  
estimators
of the change-points converge, with the rate $n^{-1}$, to the smallest
minimizer of the independent compound Poisson processes.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0153

---------------------------------------------------------------

5646. RANDOM SPATIAL GROWTH WITH PARALYZING OBSTACLES

J. van den Berg and  Y. Peres and  V. Sidoravicius and M.E. Vares

We study models of spatial growth processes where initially there are  
sources
of growth (indicated by the colour green) and sources of a growth- 
stopping
(paralyzing) substance (indicated by red). The green sources expand  
and may
merge with others (there is no `inter-green' competition). The red  
substance
remains passive as long as it is isolated. However, when a green  
cluster comes
in touch with the red substance, it is immediately invaded by the  
latter, stops
growing and starts to act as red substance itself. In our main model  
space is
represented by a graph, of which initially each vertex is randomly  
green, red
or white (vacant), and the growth of the green clusters is similar to  
that in
first-passage percolation. The main issues we investigate are whether  
the model
is well-defined on an infinite graph (e.g. the $d$-dimensional cubic  
lattice),
and what can be said about the distribution of the size of a green  
cluster just
before it is paralyzed. We show that, if the initial density of red  
vertices is
positive, and that of white vertices is sufficiently small, the model  
is indeed
well-defined and the above distribution has an exponential tail. In  
fact, we
believe this to be true whenever the initial density of red is  
positive. This
research also led to a relation between invasion percolation and  
critical
Bernoulli percolation which seems to be of independent interest.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0219

---------------------------------------------------------------

5647. THE CHARACTERISTIC POLYNOMIAL OF A RANDOM UNITARY MATRIX: A   
PROBABILISTIC APPROACH

Paul Bourgade and  Chris Hughes and  Ashkan Nikeghbali and Marc Yor

In this paper, we propose a probabilistic approach to the study of the
characteristic polynomial of a random unitary matrix. We recover the  
Mellin
Fourier transform of such a random polynomial, first obtained by  
Keating and
Snaith, using a simple recursion formula, and from there we are able  
to obtain
the joint law of its radial and angular parts in the complex plane. In
particular, we show that the real and imaginary parts of the  
logarithm of the
characteristic polynomial of a random unitary matrix can be  
represented in law
as the sum of independent random variables. From such  
representations, the
celebrated limit theorem obtained by Keating and Snaith is now  
obtained from
the classical central limit theorems of Probability Theory, as well  
as some new
estimates for the rate of convergence and law of the iterated  
logarithm type
results.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0333

---------------------------------------------------------------

5648. RENEWAL CONVERGENCE RATES AND CORRELATION DECAY FOR HOMOGENEOUS  
PINNING  MODELS

Giambattista Giacomin

A class of discrete renewal processes with super-exponentially decaying
inter-arrival distributions coincides with the infinite volume limit  
of general
homogeneous pinning models in their localized phase. Pinning models are
statistical mechanics systems to which a lot of attention has been  
devoted both
for their relevance for applications and because they are solvable  
models
exhibiting a non-trivial phase transition. The spatial decay of  
correlations in
these systems is directly mapped to the speed of convergence to  
equilibrium for
the associated renewal processes. We show that close to criticality,  
under
general assumptions, the correlation decay rate, or the renewal  
convergence
rate, coincides with the inter-arrival decay rate. We also show that, in
general, this is false away from criticality. Under a stronger  
assumption on
the inter-arrival distribution we establish a local limit theorem,  
capturing
thus the sharp asymptotic behavior of correlations.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0341

---------------------------------------------------------------

5649. ENDS IN UNIFORM SPANNING FORESTS

Russell Lyons and Benjamin J. Morris and Oded Schramm

It has hitherto been known that in a transitive unimodular graph,  
each tree
in the wired spanning forest has only one end a.s. We dispense with the
assumptions of transitivity and unimodularity, replacing them with a  
much
broader condition on the isoperimetric profile that requires just  
slightly more
than uniform transience.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0358

---------------------------------------------------------------

5650. ASYMPTOTIC BEHAVIOR OF TOTAL TIMES FOR JOBS THAT MUST START  
OVER IF A  FAILURE OCCURS

Soeren Asmussen and  Pierre Fiorini and  Lester Lipsky and  Tomasz  
Rolski and  Robert  Sheahan

Many processes must complete in the presence of failures. Different  
systems
respond to task failure in different ways. The system may resume a  
failed task
from the failure point (or a saved checkpoint shortly before the failure
point), it may give up on the task and select a replacement task from  
the ready
queue, or it may restart the task. The behavior of systems under the  
first two
scenarios is well documented, but the third ({\em RESTART}) has resisted
detailed analysis. In this paper we derive tight asymptotic relations  
between
the distribution of {\em task times} without failures to the {\em  
total time}
when including failures, for any failure distribution. In particular,  
we show
that if the task time distribution has an unbounded support then the  
total time
distribution $H$ is always heavy-tailed. Asymptotic expressions are  
given for
the tail of $H$ in various scenarios. The key ingredients of the  
analysis are
the Cram\'er--Lundberg asymptotics for geometric sums and integral  
asymptotics,
that in some cases are obtained via Tauberian theorems and in some  
cases by
bare-hand calculations.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0403

---------------------------------------------------------------

5651. REGULARITY OF HARMONIC FUNCTIONS FOR ANISOTROPIC FRACTIONAL  
LAPLACIAN

Pawe{\l} Sztonyk

We prove that bounded harmonic functions of anisotropic fractional  
Laplacians
are H\"older continuous under mild regularity assumptions on the  
corresponding
L\'evy measure. Under some stronger assumptions the Green function,  
Poisson
kernel and the harmonic functions are even differentiable of order up  
to three.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0413

---------------------------------------------------------------

5652. FINANCIAL EQUILIBRIA IN THE SEMIMARTINGALE SETTING: COMPLETE  
MARKETS AND  MARKETS WITH WITHDRAWAL CONSTRAINTS

Gordan Zitkovic

Existence of stochastic financial equilibria giving rise to  
semimartingale
asset prices is established under a general class of assumptions. These
equilibria are expressed in real terms and span complete markets or  
markets
with withdrawal constraints.We deal with random endowment density  
streams which
admit jumps and general time-dependent utility functions on which only
regularity conditions are imposed. As an integral part of the proof  
of the main
result, we establish a novel characterization of semimartingale  
functions.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0462

---------------------------------------------------------------

5653. ON THE SEMIMARTINGALE PROPERTY VIA BOUNDED LOGARITHMIC UTILITY

Kasper Larsen and  Gordan Zitkovic

This paper provides a new version of the condition of Di Nunno et al.  
(2003),
Ankirchner and Imkeller (2005) and Biagini and \{O}ksendal (2005)  
ensuring the
semimartingale property for a large class of continuous stochastic  
processes.
Unlike our predecessors, we base our modeling framework on the  
concept of
portfolio proportions which yields a short self-contained proof of  
the main
theorem, as well as a counterexample, showing that analogues of our  
results do
not hold in the discontinuous setting.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0468

---------------------------------------------------------------

5654. STABILITY OF UTILITY-MAXIMIZATION IN INCOMPLETE MARKETS

Kasper Larsen and  Gordan Zitkovic

The effectiveness of utility-maximization techniques for portfolio  
management
relies on our ability to estimate correctly the parameters of the  
dynamics of
the underlying financial assets. In the setting of complete or  
incomplete
financial markets, we investigate whether small perturbations of the  
market
coefficient processes lead to small changes in the agent's optimal  
behavior
derived from the solution of the related utility-maximization problems.
Specifically, we identify the topologies on the parameter process  
space and the
solution space under which utility-maximization is a continuous  
operation, and
we provide a counterexample showing that our results are best  
possible, in a
certain sense. A novel result about the structure of the solution of the
utility-maximization problem where prices are modeled by continuous
semimartingales is established as an offshoot of the proof of our  
central
theorem.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0474

---------------------------------------------------------------

5655. OPTIMAL INVESTMENT WITH AN UNBOUNDED RANDOM ENDOWMENT WHEN THE  
WEALTH  CAN BECOME NEGATIVE

Mark Owen and  Gordan Zitkovic

This paper studies the problem of maximizing the expected utility of  
terminal
wealth for a financial agent with an unbounded random endowment, and  
with a
utility function which supports both positive and negative wealth. We  
prove the
existence of an optimal trading strategy within a class of permissible
strategies -- those strategies whose wealth process is a  
supermartingale under
all pricing measures with finite relative entropy. We give necessary and
sufficient conditions for the absence of utility-based arbitrage, and  
for the
existence of a solution to the primal problem.
   We consider two utility based methods which can be used to price  
contingent
claims. Firstly we investigate marginal utility-based price processes
(MUBPP's). We show that such processes can be characterized as local
martingales under the normalized optimal dual measure for the utility
maximizing investor. Finally, we present some new results on utility
indifference prices, including continuity properties and volume  
asymptotics for
the case of a general utility function, unbounded endowment and  
unbounded
contingent claims.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0478

---------------------------------------------------------------

5656. MAXIMIZING THE GROWTH RATE UNDER RISK CONSTRAINTS

Traian A. Pirvu and  Gordan Zitkovic

We investigate the ergodic problem of growth-rate maximization under  
a class
of risk constraints in the context of incomplete, It\^{o}-process  
models of
financial markets with random ergodic coefficients. Including {\em
value-at-risk} (VaR), {\em tail-value-at-risk} (TVaR), and {\em limited
expected loss} (LEL), these constraints can be both wealth-dependent 
(relative)
and wealth-independent (absolute). The optimal policy is shown to  
exist in an
appropriate admissibility class, and can be obtained explicitly by  
uniform,
state-dependent scaling down of the unconstrained (Merton) optimal  
portfolio.
This implies that the risk-constrained wealth-growth optimizer  
locally behaves
like a CRRA-investor, with the relative risk-aversion coefficient  
depending on
the current values of the market coefficients.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0480

---------------------------------------------------------------

5657. STABILITY OF THE UTILITY MAXIMIZATION PROBLEM WITH RANDOM  
ENDOWMENT IN  INCOMPLETE MARKETS

Constantinos Kardaras and Gordan Zitkovic

We perform a stability analysis for the utility maximization problem  
in a
general semimartingale model where both liquid and illiquid assets  
(random
endowments) are present. Small misspecifications of preferences (as  
modeled via
expected utility), as well as views of the world or the market model (as
modeled via subjective probabilities) are considered. Simple sufficient
conditions are given for the problem to be well-posed, in the sense that
optimal wealths and marginal utility-based prices are continuous  
functionals of
the inputs.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0482

---------------------------------------------------------------

5658. THE ORDER OF THE GIANT COMPONENT OF RANDOM HYPERGRAPHS

Michael Behrisch and  Amin Coja-Oghlan and  Mihyun Kang

We establish central and local limit theorems for the number of  
vertices in
the largest component of a random $d$-uniform hypergraph $\hnp$ with  
edge
probability $p=c/\binnd$, where $(d-1)^{-1}+\eps<c<\infty$. The proof  
relies on
a new, purely probabilistic approach, and is based on Stein's method  
as well as
exposing the edges of $H_d(n,p)$ in several rounds.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0496

---------------------------------------------------------------

5659. LOCAL LIMIT THEOREMS AND NUMBER OF CONNECTED HYPERGRAPHS

Michael Behrisch and  Amin Coja-Oghlan and  Mihyun Kang

Let $\hnp$ signify a random $d$-uniform hypergraph with $n$ vertices  
in which
each of the $\bink{n}d$ possible edges is present with probability  
$p=p(n)$
independently, and let $\hnm$ denote a uniformly distributed with $n$  
vertices
and $m$ edges. We derive local limit theorems for the joint  
distribution of the
number of vertices and the number of edges in the largest component  
of $\hnp$
and $\hnm$ for the regime $\bink{n-1}{d-1}p,dm/n>(d-1)^{-1}+\eps$. As an
application, we obtain an asymptotic formula for the probability that  
$\hnp$ or
$\hnm$ is connected. In addition, we infer a local limit theorem for the
conditional distribution of the number of edges in $\hnp$ given  
connectivity.
While most prior work on this subject relies on techniques from  
enumerative
combinatorics, we present a new, purely probabilistic approach.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0497

---------------------------------------------------------------

5660. QUEUES WITH HETEROGENEOUS SERVERS AND UNINFORMED CUSTOMERS: WHO  
WORKS  THE MOST?

Fabricio Bandeira Cabral

In this paper, we consider systems that can be modelled by $M \mid M  
\mid n$
queues with heterogeneous servers and non informed customers.  
Considering any
two servers: we show that the probability that the fastest server is  
busy is
smaller than the probability that the slowest server is busy.  
Moreover, we show
that the effective rate of service done by the fastest server is  
larger than
effective rate of service done by the slowest server.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0560

---------------------------------------------------------------

5661. ON THE GEOMETRY OF GENERALIZED GAUSSIAN DISTRIBUTIONS

Attila Andai

In this paper we consider the space of those probability  
distributions which
maximize the $q$-R\'enyi entropy. These distributions have the same  
parameter
space for every $q$, and in the $q=1$ case these are the normal  
distributions.
Some methods to endow this parameter space with Riemannian metric is  
presented:
the second derivative of the $q$-R\'enyi entropy, Tsallis-entropy and  
the
relative entropy give rise to a Riemannian metric, the Fisher- 
information
matrix is a natural Riemannian metric, and there are some geometrically
motivated metrics which were studied by Siegel, Calvo and Oller, Lovri 
\'c,
Min-Oo and Ruh. These metrics are different therefore our differential
geometrical calculations based on a unified metric, which covers all  
the above
mentioned metrics among others. We also compute the geometrical  
properties of
this metric, the equation of the geodesic line with some special  
solutions, the
Riemann and Ricci curvature tensors and scalar curvature. Using the
correspondence between the volume of the geodesic ball and the scalar  
curvature
we show how the parameter $q$ modulates the statistical  
distinguishability of
close points. We show that some frequently used metric in quantum  
information
geometry can be easily recovered from classical metrics.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0606

---------------------------------------------------------------

5662. AN EXTENSION OF THE INDUCTIVE APPROACH TO THE LACE EXPANSION

Remco van der Hofstad and  Mark Holmes and  Gordon Slade

We extend the inductive approach to the lace expansion, previously  
developed
to study models with critical dimension 4, to be applicable more  
generally. In
particular, the result of this note has recently been used to prove  
Gaussian
asymptotic behaviour for the Fourier transform of the two-point  
function for
sufficiently spread-out lattice trees in dimensions d>8, and it is  
potentially
also applicable to percolation in dimensions d>6.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0611

---------------------------------------------------------------

5663. AN EXPANSION FOR SELF-INTERACTING RANDOM WALKS

Remco van der Hofstad and  Mark Holmes

We derive a perturbation expansion for general interacting random walks,
where steps are made on the basis of the history of the path.  
Examples of
models where this expansion applies are reinforced random walk,  
excited random
walk, the true (weakly) self-avoiding walk and loop-erased random  
walk. We use
the expansion to prove a law of large numbers and central limit  
theorem for two
models: (i) A directed version of once-reinforced random walk on \Z^d  
for
sufficiently small reinforcement parameters. This model is such that  
if the
reinforcement parameter is set to zero, then the resulting random  
walk has
independent increments with a non-zero drift; and (ii) Excited random  
walk in
dimension d>8 when the excitement parameter is sufficiently small.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0614

---------------------------------------------------------------

5664. A CHARACTERIZATION OF THE RIESZ DISTRIBUTION

Abdelhamid Hassairi and  Sallouha Lajmi and  Raoudha Zine

Bobecka and Wesolowski (2002) have shown that, in the Olkin and Rubin
characterization of the Wishart distribution (See Casalis and Letac  
(1996)),
when we use the division algorithm defined by the quadratic  
representation and
replace the property of invariance by the existence of twice  
differentiable
densities, we still have a characterization of the Wishart  
distribution. In the
present work, we show that, when we use the division algorithm  
defined by the
Cholesky decomposition, we get a characterization of the Riesz  
distribution.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0679

---------------------------------------------------------------

5665. UNIQUENESS OF POLYNOMIAL CANONICAL REPRESENTATIONS

Manuel Lladser

Let P(z) and Q(y) be polynomials of the same degree k>=1 in the complex
variables z and y, respectively. In this extended abstract we study the
non-linear functional equation P(z)=Q(y(z)), where y(z) is restricted  
to be
analytic in a neighborhood of z=0. We provide sufficient conditions  
to ensure
that all the roots of Q(y) are contained within the range of y(z) as  
well as to
have y(z)=z as the unique analytic solution of the non-linear  
equation. Our
results are motivated from uniqueness considerations of polynomial  
canonical
representations of the phase or amplitude terms of oscillatory integrals
encountered in the asymptotic analysis of the coefficients of mixed  
powers and
multivariable generating functions via saddle-point methods.  
Uniqueness shall
prove important for developing algorithms to determine the Taylor  
coefficients
of the terms appearing in these representations. The uniqueness of  
Levinson's
polynomial canonical representations of analytic functions in several  
variables
follows as a corollary of our one-complex variables results.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.2345

---------------------------------------------------------------

5666. MULTIPLICATION OF FREE RANDOM VARIABLES AND THE S-TRANSFORM:  
THE CASE OF  VANISHING MEAN

N. Raj Rao and Roland Speicher

This note extends Voiculescu's S-transform based analytical machinery  
for
free multiplicative convolution to the case where the mean of the  
probability
measures vanishes. We show that with the right interpretation of the
S-transform in the case of vanishing mean, the usual formula makes  
perfectly
good sense.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0323

---------------------------------------------------------------

5667. OPERATOR SPACE LP EMBEDDING THEORY I

Marius Junge and  Javier Parcet

Given any $1 < q \le 2$, we use new free probability techniques to  
construct
a completely isomorphic embedding of $\ell_q$ (equipped with its natural
operator space structure) into the predual of a sufficiently large  
QWEP von
Neumann algebra.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0550

---------------------------------------------------------------

5668. THE ZERO-ONE LAW FOR PLANAR RANDOM WALKS IN I.I.D. RANDOM  
ENVIRONMENTS  REVISITED

Martin P.W. Zerner

In this note we present a simplified proof of the zero-one law by  
Merkl and
Zerner (2001) for directional transience of random walks in i.i.d.  
random
environments (RWRE) on the square lattice. Also, we indicate how to  
construct a
two-dimensional counterexample in a non-uniformly elliptic and  
stationary
environment which has better ergodic properties than the example  
given by Merkl
and Zerner.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0745

---------------------------------------------------------------

5669. ON THE LOWER BOUND OF THE SPECTRAL NORM OF SYMMETRIC RANDOM  
MATRICES  WITH INDEPENDENT ENTRIES

Sandrine Peche and Alexander Soshnikov

We show that the spectral radius of an $N\times N$ random symmetric  
matrix
with i.i.d. bounded centered but non-symmetrically distributed  
entries is
bounded from below by $ 2 \*\sigma - o(N^{-6/11+\epsilon}), $ where $ 
\sigma^2 $
is the variance of the matrix entries and $\epsilon $ is an arbitrary  
small
positive number. Combining with our previous result from [6], this  
proves that
for any $\epsilon >0, $ one has $$ \|A_N\| =2 \*\sigma + o(N^{-6/11+ 
\epsilon})
$$ with probability going to 1 as $N \to \infty. $


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0748

---------------------------------------------------------------

5670. LIMIT LAWS FOR K-COVERAGE OF PATHS BY A MARKOV-BOOLEAN MODEL

Srikanth K. Iyer and  D. Manjunath and D. Yogeshwaran

Let P := {X_i}_{i >= 1} be a stationary point process in R^d. {C_i}_ 
{i>= 1}
be a sequence of i.i.d random sets in R^d. and {Y^t_i}_{t >= 0, i >=  
1} be
i.i.d. {0,1}-valued continuous time stationary Markov chains. We  
define the
Markov-Boolean model C_t := {Y_t^i(Xi + Ci)}_{i>=1}. C_t represents the
coverage process at time t.
   We first obtain limit laws for k-coverage of an area at an  
arbitrary instant.
We then derive limit laws for the k-coverage induced on a one- 
dimensional path
at an arbitrary instant. Finally, we obtain the limit laws for the k- 
coverage
seen by a particle as it moves along a one-dimensional path


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0789

---------------------------------------------------------------

5671. MEASURE-VALUED STOCHASTIC RECURRENCES AND THE STABILITY OF QUEUES

Pascal Moyal

In this paper we present a stability criterion for finite measure-valued
stochastic recursions, generalizing Loynes's Theorem to spaces of  
measures.
This result provides conditions for the reach of a "total stationary  
state" for
the queue with an infinity of servers and the single-server SRPT  
queue. Indeed,
we give in both cases a condition of existence of a stationary  
measure-valued
recursive sequence characterizing the queueing system exhaustively.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0817

---------------------------------------------------------------

5672. ALMOST SURE CONVERGENCE OF RANDOMLY TRUNCATED STOCHASTIC  
ALGORITHMS  UNDER VERIFIABLE CONDITIONS

J\'er\^ome Lelong (CERMICS)

We study the almost sure convergence of randomly truncated stochastic
algorithms. We present a new convergence theorem which extends the  
already
known results by making vanish the classical condition on the noise  
terms. The
aim of this work is to prove an almost sure convergence result of  
randomly
truncated stochastic algorithms under easily verifiable conditions


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0841

---------------------------------------------------------------

5673. MAXIMAL PROBABILITIES OF CONVOLUTION POWERS OF DISCRETE  
UNIFORM  DISTRIBUTIONS

Lutz Mattner and Bero Roos

We prove optimal constant over root $n$ upper bounds for the maximal
probabilities of $n$th convolution powers of discrete uniform  
distributions.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0843

---------------------------------------------------------------

5674. TWO MULTIVARIATE CENTRAL LIMIT THEOREMS

Elizabeth Meckes

In this paper, explicit error bounds are derived in the approximation  
of rank
$k$ projections of certain $n$-dimensional random vectors by standard
$k$-dimensional Gaussian random vectors. The bounds are given in  
terms of $k$,
$n$, and a basis of the $k$-dimensional space onto which we project.  
The random
vectors considered are two generalizations of the case of a vector with
independent, identically distributed components. In the first case,  
the random
vector has components which are independent but need not have the same
distribution. The second case deals with finite exchangeable  
sequences of
random variables.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0844

---------------------------------------------------------------

5675. ON MAGIC FACTORS AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF EXAMPLES WITH SHARP  
RATES IN  STEIN'S METHOD

Adrian R\"ollin

The application of Stein's method for distributional approximation often
involves so called magic factors in the bound of the solutions to Stein
equations. However, these factors sometimes contain additional terms  
such as a
logarithmic term for Poisson point process approximation, leading to
unsatisfactory estimates. Despite the fact that is has been shown for  
many of
these magic factors that the known bounds are sharp and thus that the
additional terms cannot be avoided in general, no probabilistic  
examples have
been presented in the literature, which justify these magic factors.  
In this
article we close this gap by constructing such examples more or less
explicitly. As a side effect, a new interpretation of the solutions  
to Stein
equations is given.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0879

---------------------------------------------------------------

5676. JANOSSY DENSITIES FOR UNITARY ENSEMBLES AT THE SPECTRAL EDGE

Brian Rider and  Xin Zhou

For a broad class of unitary ensembles of random matrices we  
demonstrate the
universal nature of the Janossy densities of eigenvalues near the  
spectral
edge, providing a different formulation of the probability  
distributions of the
limiting second, third, etc. largest eigenvalues of the ensembles in  
question.
The approach is based on a representation of the Janossy densities in  
terms of
a system of orthogonal polynomials, plus the steepest descent method  
of Deift
and Zhou for the asymptotic analysis of the associated Riemann- 
Hilbert problem.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0921

---------------------------------------------------------------

5677. INFINITE-DIMENSIONAL DIFFUSIONS AS LIMITS OF RANDOM WALKS ON  
PARTITIONS

Alexei Borodin and Grigori Olshanski

The present paper originated from our previous study of the problem of
harmonic analysis on the infinite symmetric group. This problem leads  
to a
family {P_z} of probability measures, the z-measures, which depend on  
the
complex parameter z. The z-measures live on the Thoma simplex, an
infinite-dimensional compact space which is a kind of dual object to the
infinite symmetric group. The aim of the paper is to introduce  
stochastic
dynamics related to the z-measures. Namely, we construct a family of  
diffusion
processes in the Toma simplex indexed by the same parameter z. Our  
diffusions
are obtained from certain Markov chains on partitions of natural  
numbers n in a
scaling limit as n goes to infinity. These Markov chains arise in a  
natural
way, due to the approximation of the infinite symmetric group by the  
increasing
chain of the finite symmetric groups. Each z-measure P_z serves as a  
unique
invariant distribution for the corresponding diffusion process, and  
the process
is ergodic with respect to P_z. Moreover, P_z is a symmetrizing  
measure, so
that the process is reversible. We describe the spectrum of its  
generator and
compute the associated (pre)Dirichlet form.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1034

---------------------------------------------------------------

5678. A ONE DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS OF TURBULENCE AND ITS INTERMITTENCE  
FOR THE  D-DIMENSIONAL STOCHASTIC BURGERS EQUATION

A. D. Neate and A. Truman

The inviscid limit of the stochastic Burgers equation is discussed in  
terms
of the level surfaces of the minimising Hamilton-Jacobi function, the  
classical
mechanical caustic and the Maxwell set and their algebraic pre-images  
under the
classical mechanical flow map. The problem is analysed in terms of a  
reduced
(one dimensional) action function. We demonstrate that the geometry  
of the
caustic, level surfaces and Maxwell set can change infinitely rapidly  
causing
turbulent behaviour which is stochastic in nature. The intermittence  
of this
turbulence is demonstrated in terms of the recurrence of two processes.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1159

---------------------------------------------------------------

5679. INTERMITTENCY ON CATALYSTS

J. Gaertner and  F. den Hollander and  G. Maillard

The present paper provides an overview of results obtained in four  
recent
papers by the authors. These papers address the problem of  
intermittency for
the Parabolic Anderson Model in a \emph{time-dependent random medium},
describing the evolution of a ``reactant'' in the presence of a  
``catalyst''.
Three examples of catalysts are considered: (1) independent simple  
random
walks; (2) symmetric exclusion process; (3) symmetric voter model.  
The focus is
on the annealed Lyapunov exponents, i.e., the exponential growth  
rates of the
successive moments of the reactant. It turns out that these exponents  
exhibit
an interesting dependence on the dimension and on the diffusion  
constant.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1171

---------------------------------------------------------------

5680. STEIN'S METHOD AND POISSON PROCESS APPROXIMATION FOR A CLASS  
OF  WASSERSTEIN METRICS

Dominic Schuhmacher

Based on Stein's method, we derive upper bounds for Poisson process
approximation in the L_1-Wasserstein metric d_2^(p), which is based on a
slightly adapted L_p-Wasserstein metric between point measures. For  
the case
p=1, this construction yields the metric d_2 introduced in [Barbour,  
A.D. and
Brown, T.C. (1992), Stochastic Process. Appl. 43(1), pp. 9--31], for  
which
Poisson process approximation is well studied in the literature. We  
demonstrate
the usefulness of the extension to general p by showing that d_2^(p)- 
bounds
control differences between expectations of certain p-th order average
statistics of point processes.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1172

---------------------------------------------------------------

5681. A ONE DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS OF SINGULARITIES AND TURBULENCE FOR  
THE  STOCHASTIC BURGERS EQUATION IN D-DIMENSIONS

A. D. Neate and A. Truman

The inviscid limit of the stochastic Burgers equation, with body  
forces white
noise in time, is discussed in terms of the level surfaces of the  
minimising
Hamilton-Jacobi function, the classical mechanical caustic and the  
Maxwell set
and their algebraic pre-images under the classical mechanical flow  
map. The
problem is analysed in terms of a reduced (one dimensional) action  
function. We
give an explicit expression for an algebraic surface containing the  
Maxwell set
and caustic in the polynomial case. Those parts of the caustic and  
Maxwell set
which are singular are characterised. We demonstrate how the geometry  
of the
caustic, level surfaces and Maxwell set can change infinitely rapidly  
causing
turbulent behaviour which is stochastic in nature, and we determine its
intermittence in terms of the recurrent behaviour of two processes.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1173

---------------------------------------------------------------

5682. TWO-SIDED OPTIMAL BOUNDS FOR GREEN FUNCTION OF HALF-SPACES FOR   
RELATIVISTIC $\ALPHA$-STABLE PROCESS

Tomasz Grzywny and  Micha{\l}Ryznar

The purpose of this paper is to find optimal estimates for the Green  
function
of a half-space of {\it the relativistic $\alpha$-stable process} with
parameter $m$ on $\Rd$ space. This process has an infinitesimal  
generator of
the form $mI-(m^{2/\alpha}I-\Delta)^{\alpha/2},$ where $0<\alpha<2$,  
$m>0$, and
reduces to the isotropic $\alpha$-stable process for $m=0$. Its  
potential
theory for open bounded sets has been well developed throughout the  
recent
years however almost nothing was known about the behaviour of the  
process on
unbounded sets. The present paper is intended to fill this gap and we  
provide
two-sided sharp estimates for the Green function for a half-space. As a
byproduct we obtain some improvements of the estimates known for  
bounded sets
specially for balls. The advantage of these estimates is a  
clarification of the
relationship between the diameter of the ball and the parameter $m$  
of the
process.
   The main result states that the Green function is comparable with  
the Green
function for the Brownian motion if the points are away from the  
boundary of a
half-space and their distance is greater than one. On the other hand  
for the
remaining points the Green function is somehow related the Green  
function for
the isotropic $\alpha$-stable process. For example, for $d\ge3$, it is
comparable with the Green function for the isotropic $\alpha$-stable  
process,
provided that the points are close enough.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1175

---------------------------------------------------------------

5683. ADDITIVE REGRESSION MODEL FOR CONTINUOUS TIME PROCESSES

Mohammed Debbarh and Bertrand Maillot

In the setting of additive regression model for continuous time  
process, we
establish the optimal uniform convergence rates and optimal asymptotic
quadratic error of additive regression. To build our estimate, we use  
the
marginal integration method.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1154

---------------------------------------------------------------

5684. SOME UNIFORM LIMIT RESULTS IN ADDITIVE REGRESSION MODEL

Mohammed Debbarh

We establish some uniform limit results in the setting of additive  
regression
model estimation. Our results allow to give an asymptotic 100%  
confidence bands
for these components. These results are stated in the framework of  
i.i.d random
vectors when the marginal integration estimation method is used.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1161

---------------------------------------------------------------

5685. ON THE THRESHOLD FOR K-REGULAR SUBGRAPHS OF RANDOM GRAPHS

Pawel Pralat and  Jacques Verstraete and  Nicholas Wormald

The $k$-core of a graph is the largest subgraph of minimum degree at  
least
$k$. We show that for $k$ sufficiently large, the $(k + 2)$-core of a  
random
graph $\G(n,p)$ asymptotically almost surely has a spanning $k$-regular
subgraph. Thus the threshold for the appearance of a $k$-regular  
subgraph of a
random graph is at most the threshold for the $(k+2)$-core. In  
particular, this
pins down the point of appearance of a $k$-regular subgraph in $\G 
(n,p)$ to a
window for $p$ of width roughly $2/n$ for large $n$ and moderately  
large $k$.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1103

---------------------------------------------------------------

5686. RATE OF CONVERGENCE OF SPACE TIME APPROXIMATIONS FOR  
STOCHASTIC  EVOLUTION EQUATIONS

Istvan Gy\"ongy and  Annie Millet (PMA and  Ces and  Matisse and  Samos)

Stochastic evolution equations in Banach spaces with unbounded nonlinear
drift and diffusion operators are considered. Under some regularity  
condition
assumed for the solution, the rate of convergence of various numerical
approximations are estimated under strong monotonicity and Lipschitz
conditions. The abstract setting involves general consistency  
conditions and is
then applied to a class of quasilinear stochastic PDEs of parabolic  
type.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1404

---------------------------------------------------------------

5687. REGULARIZATION BY FREE ADDITIVE CONVOLUTION, SQUARE AND  
RECTANGULAR  CASES

Serban Belinschi and  Florent Benaych-Georges (PMA) and  Alice  
Guionnet  (UMPA-ENSL)

The free convolution (resp. its rectangular analogue) is the binary  
operation
on the set of probability measures on the real line which allows to  
deduce,
from the individual spectral (resp. singular) distributions, the  
spectral
(resp. singular) distribution of a sum of independent unitarily  
invariant
square (resp. rectangular) random matrices. In this paper, we  
consider these
free convolutions, and study the possibility to find probability  
measures close
to the Dirac mass at zero with regularization properties on the whole  
real
line. More specifically, we try to find continuous semigroups $(\mu_t) 
$ of
probability measures such that $\mu_0$ is the Dirac mass at zero and  
such that
for all positive $t$ and all probability measure $\nu$, the free  
convolution of
$\mu_t$ with $\nu$ (or, in the rectangular context, the rectangular free
convolution of $\mu_t$ with $\nu$) is absolutely continuous with  
respect to the
Lebesgue measure, with a positive analytic density on the whole real  
line. In
the square case, we prove that in semigroups satisfying this  
property, no
measure can have a finite second moment, and we give a sufficient  
condition on
semigroups to satisfy this property, with examples. In the  
rectangular case, we
prove that in most cases, for $\mu$ in a continuous
rectangular-convolution-semigroup, the rectangular convolution of $\mu 
$ with
$\nu$ either has an atom at the origin or doesn't put any mass in a
neighborhood of the origin, thus the expected property does not hold.  
However,
we give sufficient conditions for analyticity of the density of the  
rectangular
convolution of $\mu$ with $\nu$ except on a negligible set of points,  
as well
as existence and continuity of a density everywhere.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1419

---------------------------------------------------------------

5688. THE LAW OF THE SUPREMUM OF A STABLE L\'EVY PROCESS WITH NO  
NEGATIVE  JUMPS

Violetta Bernyk and  Robert C. Dalang and  Goran Peskir

Let $X=(X_t)_{t \ge 0}$ be a stable L\'evy process of index $\alpha \in
(1,2)$ with no negative jumps, and let $S_t = \sup_{0 \le s \le t} X_s 
$ denote
its running supremum for $t>0$. We show that the probability density  
function
$f_t$ of $S_t$ can be characterized as the unique solution to a  
weakly singular
Volterra integral equation of the first kind, or equivalently, as the  
unique
solution to a first-order Riemann-Liouville fractional differential  
equation
satisfying a boundary condition at zero. This yields an explicit series
representation for $f_t$. Recalling the familiar relation between $S_t 
$ and the
first entry time $\tau_x$ of $X$ into $[x,\infty)$, this further  
translates
into an explicit series representation for the probability density  
function of
$\tau_x$.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1503

---------------------------------------------------------------

5689. A DYNAMICAL LAW OF LARGE NUMBERS

Davar Khoshnevisan and  David A. Levin and Pedro J. Mendez-Hernandez

Let X1, X2, . . . denote i.i.d. random bits, each taking the values 1  
and 0
with respective probabilities p and 1-p. A well-known theorem of  
Erdos and
Renyi (1970) describes the length of the longest contiguous stretch,  
or "run",
of ones in X1, . . ., Xn for large values of n. Benjamini, Haggstrom,  
Peres,
and Steif (2003, Theorem 1.4) demonstrated the existence of unusual  
times,
provided that the bits undergo equilibrium dynamics in time. The  
first of the
two main results of this paper describes what happens if we allow for  
a fixed
and finite number of "impurities" [or zeros] in the longest run of  
ones. This
resolves a recent conjecture of Revesz (2005, p. 61). We also compute  
the
Hausdorff dimension of the collection of all unusual times at which this
long-run-with-impurities occur.
   The second main contribution of this paper describes a sharp capacity
criterion for a parity test of Benjamini, Haggstrom, Peres, and Steif  
(2003)
that was initially motivated by problems in complexity theory. This  
refines the
existing sufficient condition and necessary condition of Benjamini,  
Haggstrom,
Peres, and Steif (2003, Theorem 3.4) to a necessary and sufficient  
condition
which is potential-theoretic in nature. The proof hinges on a  
combinatorial
argument which does not appear to have an obvious connection to the  
Markov
property. This is worth mentioning because probabilistic potential  
theory is
often associated strongly with the Markov, or even strong Markov,  
property.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1520

---------------------------------------------------------------

5690. RANDOMLY COLORING PLANAR GRAPHS WITH FEWER COLORS THAN THE  
MAXIMUM  DEGREE

Thomas P. Hayes and  Juan C. Vera and  and Eric Vigoda

We study Markov chains for randomly sampling $k$-colorings of a graph  
with
maximum degree $\Delta$. Our main result is a polynomial upper bound  
on the
mixing time of the single-site update chain known as the Glauber  
dynamics for
planar graphs when $k=\Omega(\Delta/\log{\Delta})$. Our results can be
partially extended to the more general case where the maximum  
eigenvalue of the
adjacency matrix of the graph is at most $\Delta^{1-\eps}$, for fixed  
$\eps >
0$.
   The main challenge when $k \le \Delta + 1$ is the possibility of  
``frozen''
vertices, that is, vertices for which only one color is possible,  
conditioned
on the colors of its neighbors. Indeed, when $\Delta = O(1)$, even a  
typical
coloring can have a constant fraction of the vertices frozen. Our  
proofs rely
on recent advances in techniques for bounding mixing time using ``local
uniformity'' properties.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1530

---------------------------------------------------------------

5691. POWER-FREE VALUES, REPULSION BETWEEN POINTS, DIFFERING BELIEFS  
AND THE  EXISTENCE OF ERROR

Harald Andres Helfgott

Let f be a cubic polynomial. Then there are infinitely many primes p  
such
that f(p) is square-free.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1497

---------------------------------------------------------------

5692. WETTING OF GRADIENT FIELDS: PATHWISE ESTIMATES

Yvan Velenik

We consider the wetting transition in the framework of an effective  
interface
model of gradient type, in dimension 2 and higher. We prove pathwise  
estimates
showing that the interface is localized in the whole  
thermodynamically-defined
partial wetting regime considered in earlier works. Moreover, we  
study how the
interface delocalizes as the wetting transition is approached. Our  
main tool is
reflection positivity in the form of the chessboard estimate.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1632

---------------------------------------------------------------

5693. T-WISE INDEPENDENCE WITH LOCAL DEPENDENCIES

Ronen Gradwohl and  Amir Yehudayoff

In this note we prove a large deviation bound on the sum of random  
variables
with the following dependency structure: there is a dependency graph  
$G$ with a
bounded chromatic number, in which each vertex represents a random  
variable.
Variables that are represented by neighboring vertices may be  
arbitrarily
dependent, but collections of variables that form an independent set  
in $G$ are
$t$-wise independent.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1637

---------------------------------------------------------------

5694. THE EXPLICIT CHAOTIC REPRESENTATION OF THE POWERS OF INCREMENTS  
OF LEVY  PROCESSES

Wing Yan Yip and  David Stephens and  Sofia Olhede

An explicit formula for the chaotic representation of the powers of
increments, (X_{t+t_0}-X_{t_0})^n, of a Levy process is presented.  
There are
two different chaos expansions of a square integrable functional of a  
Levy
process: one with respect to the compensated Poisson random measure  
and the
other with respect to the orthogonal compensated powers of the jumps  
of the
Levy process. Computationally explicit formulae for both of these chaos
expansions of (X_{t+t_0}-X_{t_0})^n are given in this paper.  
Simulation results
verify that the representation is satisfactory. The CRP of a number of
financial derivatives can be found by expressing them in terms of
(X_{t+t_0}-X_{t_0})^n using Taylor's expansion.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1698

---------------------------------------------------------------

5695. THE TWO POSSIBLE VALUES OF THE CHROMATIC NUMBER OF A RANDOM GRAPH

Dimitris Achlioptas and Assaf Naor

Given d \in (0,infty) let k_d be the smallest integer k such that d <  
2k\log
k. We prove that the chromatic number of a random graph G(n,d/n) is  
either k_d
or k_d+1 almost surely.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1725

---------------------------------------------------------------

5696. CONCENTRATION OF THE SPECTRAL MEASURE FOR LARGE RANDOM MATRICES  
WITH  STABLE ENTRIES

Christian Houdr\'e and  Hua Xu

We derive concentration inequalities for functions of the empirical  
measure
of large random matrices with infinitely divisible entries and, in  
particular,
stable ones. We also give concentration results for some other  
functionals of
these random matrices, such as the largest eigenvalue or the largest  
singular
value.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1753

---------------------------------------------------------------

5697. EXTREME-VALUE ANALYSIS OF STANDARDIZED GAUSSIAN INCREMENTS

Zakhar Kabluchko

Let $X_i$ be i.i.d. standard gaussian variables. Let $S_n=X_1+...+X_n 
$ and
$$L_n=\max_{0\leq i<j\leq n}\frac{S_j-S_i}{\sqrt{j-i}}.$$ We show  
that the
distribution of $L_n$, appropriately normalized, converges as $n\to 
\infty$ to
the Gumbel distribution. We also prove a version of the above result  
for the
Brownian motion.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1849

---------------------------------------------------------------

5698. A MATHEMATICAL MODEL FOR A COPOLYMER IN AN EMULSION

F. den Hollander and  N. Petrelis

In this paper we review some recent results, obtained jointly with Stu
Whittington, for a mathematical model describing a copolymer in an  
emulsion.
The copolymer consists of hydrophobic and hydrophilic monomers,  
concatenated
randomly with equal density. The emulsion consists of large blocks of  
oil and
water, arranged in a percolation-type fashion. To make the model  
mathematically
tractable, the copolymer is allowed to enter and exit a neighboring  
pair of
blocks only at diagonally opposite corners. The energy of the  
copolymer in the
emulsion is minus $\alpha$ times the number of hydrophobic monomers  
in oil
minus $\beta$ times the number of hydrophilic monomers in water.  
Without loss
of generality we may assume that the interaction parameters are  
restricted to
the cone $\{(\alpha,\beta)\in \mathbb{R}^2\colon |\beta|\leq\alpha\}$.
   We show that the phase diagram has two regimes: (1) in the  
supercritical
regime where the oil blocks percolate, there is a single critical  
curve in the
cone separating a localized and a delocalized phase; (2) in the  
subcritical
regime where the oil blocks do not percolate, there are three  
critical curves
in the cone separating two localized phases and two delocalized  
phases, and
meeting at two tricritical points. The different phases are  
characterized by
different behavior of the copolymer inside the four neighboring pairs of
blocks.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1876

---------------------------------------------------------------

5699. SURVIVAL PROBABILITIES FOR N-ARY SUBTREES ON A GALTON-WATSON  
FAMILY TREE

Ljuben Mutafchiev

The family tree of a Galton-Watson branching process may contain N-ary
subtrees, i.e. subtrees whose vertices have at least N>0 children.  
For family
trees without infinite N-ary subtrees, we study how fast N-ary  
subtrees of
height t disappear as t goes to infinity.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1904

---------------------------------------------------------------

5700. GENERALIZED CONTINUOUS-TIME RANDOM WALKS (CTRW), SUBORDINATION  
BY  HITTING TIMES AND FRACTIONAL DYNAMICS

Vassili N. Kolokoltsov

Functional limit theorem for continuous-time random walks (CTRW) are  
found in
general case of dependent waiting times and jump sizes that are also  
position
dependent. The limiting anomalous diffusion is described in terms of  
fractional
dynamics. Probabilistic interpretation of generalized fractional  
evolution is
given in terms of the random time change (subordination) by means of  
hitting
times processes.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1928

---------------------------------------------------------------

5701. ON PATHWISE UNIQUENESS FOR REFLECTING BROWNIAN MOTION IN $C^{1+ 
\GAMMA}$  DOMAINS

Richard F. Bass and Krzysztof Burdzy

Pathwise uniqueness holds for the Skorokhod stochastic differential  
equation
in $C^{1+\gamma}$-domains in $\R^d$ for $\gamma>1/2$ and $d\geq3$.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.1993

---------------------------------------------------------------

5702. A TRANSIENT MARKOV CHAIN WITH FINITELY MANY CUTPOINTS

Nicholas James and  Russell Lyons and Yuval Peres

We give an example of a transient reversible Markov chain that a.s.  
has only
a finite number of cutpoints. We explain how this is relevant to a  
conjecture
of Diaconis and Freedman and a question of Kaimanovich. We also answer
Kaimanovich's question when the Markov chain is a nearest-neighbor  
random walk
on a tree.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2013

---------------------------------------------------------------

5703. MARCUS-LUSHNIKOV PROCESSES, SMOLUCHOWSKI'S AND FLORY'S MODELS

Nicolas Fournier and  Philippe Laurencot

The Marcus-Lushnikov process is a finite stochastic particle system  
in which
each particle is entirely characterized by its mass. Each pair of  
particles
with masses $x$ and $y$ merges into a single particle at a given rate  
$K(x,y)$.
We consider a {\it strongly gelling} kernel behaving as $K(x,y)=x^ 
\alpha y + x
y^\alpha$ for some $\alpha\in (0,1]$. In such a case, it is well- 
known that
{\it gelation} occurs, that is, giant particles emerge. Then two  
possible
models for hydrodynamic limits of the Marcus-Lushnikov process arise:  
the
Smoluchowski equation, in which the giant particles are inert, and  
the Flory
equation, in which the giant particles interact with finite ones. We  
show that,
when using a suitable cut-off coagulation kernel in the Marcus-Lushnikov
process and letting the number of particles increase to infinity, the  
possible
limits solve either the Smoluchowski equation or the Flory equation.  
We also
study the asymptotic behaviour of the largest particle in the Marcus- 
Lushnikov
process without cut-off and show that there is only one giant  
particle. This
single giant particle represents, asymptotically, the lost mass of  
the solution
to the Flory equation.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2057

---------------------------------------------------------------

5704. THE SIZE OF THE LARGEST COMPONENT BELOW PHASE TRANSITION IN   
INHOMOGENEOUS RANDOM GRAPHS

T. S. Turova

We study the "rank 1 case" of the inhomogeneous random graph model.  
In the
subcritical case we derive an exact formula for the asymptotic size  
of the
largest connected component scaled to log n. This result is new, it  
completes
the corresponding known result in the supercritical case. We provide  
some
examples of application of a new formula.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2106

---------------------------------------------------------------

5705. UNIVERSALITY OF THE REM FOR DYNAMICS OF MEAN-FIELD SPIN GLASSES

Gerard Ben Arous and  Anton Bovier and Jiri Cerny

We consider a version of a Glauber dynamics for a p-spin
Sherrington--Kirkpatrick model of a spin glass that can be seen as a  
time
change of simple random walk on the N-dimensional hypercube. We show  
that, for
any p>2 and any inverse temperature \beta>0, there exist constants  
g>0, such
that for all exponential time scales, $\exp(\gamma N)$, with $\gamma<  
g$, the
properly rescaled clock process (time-change process), converges to an
\alpha-stable subordinator where \alpha=\gamma/\beta^2<1. Moreover, the
dynamics exhibits aging at these time scales with time-time correlation
function converging to the arcsine law of this \alpha-stable  
subordinator. In
other words, up to rescaling, on these time scales (that are shorter  
than the
equilibration time of the system), the dynamics of p-spin models ages  
in the
same way as the REM, and by extension Bouchaud's REM-like trap model,
confirming the latter as a universal aging mechanism for a wide range of
systems. The SK model (the case p=2) seems to belong to a different
universality class.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2135

---------------------------------------------------------------

5706. ON THE STRONG CHROMATIC NUMBER OF RANDOM GRAPHS

Po-Shen Loh and  Benny Sudakov

Let G be a graph with n vertices, and let k be an integer dividing n.  
G is
said to be strongly k-colorable if for every partition of V(G) into  
disjoint
sets V_1 \cup ... \cup V_r, all of size exactly k, there exists a  
proper vertex
k-coloring of G with each color appearing exactly once in each V_i.  
In the case
when k does not divide n, G is defined to be strongly k-colorable if  
the graph
obtained by adding k \lceil n/k \rceil - n isolated vertices is strongly
k-colorable. The strong chromatic number of G is the minimum k for  
which G is
strongly k-colorable. In this paper, we study the behavior of this  
parameter
for the random graph G(n, p). In the dense case when p >> n^{-1/3},  
we prove
that the strong chromatic number is a.s. concentrated on one value  
\Delta+1,
where \Delta is the maximum degree of the graph. We also obtain  
several weaker
results for sparse random graphs.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2110

---------------------------------------------------------------

5707. THE FIRST-PASSAGE AREA FOR DRIFTED BROWNIAN MOTION AND THE  
MOMENTS OF  THE AIRY DISTRIBUTION

Michael J. Kearney and  Satya N. Majumdar and  and Richard J. Martin

An exact expression for the distribution of the area swept out by a  
drifted
Brownian motion till its first-passage time is derived. A study of the
asymptotic behaviour confirms earlier conjectures and clarifies their  
range of
validity. The analysis also leads to a simple closed-form solution  
for the
moments of the Airy distribution.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2038

---------------------------------------------------------------

5708. TOWARDS THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE SIZE OF A LARGEST PLANAR  
MATCHING AND  LARGEST PLANAR SUBGRAPH IN RANDOM BIPARTITE GRAPHS

Marcos Kiwi and  Martin Loebl

We address the following question: When a randomly chosen regular  
bipartite
multi--graph is drawn in the plane in the ``standard way'', what is the
distribution of its maximum size planar matching (set of non-- 
crossing disjoint
edges) and maximum size planar subgraph (set of non--crossing edges  
which may
share endpoints)? The problem is a generalization of the Longest  
Increasing
Sequence (LIS) problem (also called Ulam's problem). We present  
combinatorial
identities which relate the number of r-regular bipartite multi-- 
graphs with
maximum planar matching (maximum planar subgraph) of at most d edges  
to a
signed sum of restricted lattice walks in Z^d, and to the number of  
pairs of
standard Young tableaux of the same shape and with a ``descend--type''
property. Our results are obtained via generalizations of two  
combinatorial
proofs through which Gessel's identity can be obtained (an identity  
that is
crucial in the derivation of a bivariate generating function  
associated to the
distribution of LISs, and key to the analytic attack on Ulam's problem).
   We also initiate the study of pattern avoidance in bipartite  
multigraphs and
derive a generalized Gessel identity for the number of bipartite 2- 
regular
multigraphs avoiding a specific (monotone) pattern.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2223

---------------------------------------------------------------

5709. STOCHASTIC PARABOLIC EQUATIONS OF FULL SECOND ORDER

S. V. Lototsky and  B. L. Rozovskii

A procedure is described for defining a generalized solution for  
stochastic
differential equations using the Cameron-Martin version of the Wiener  
Chaos
expansion. Existence and uniqueness of this Wiener Chaos solution is
established for parabolic stochastic PDEs such that both the drift  
and the
diffusion operators are of the second order.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2390

---------------------------------------------------------------

5710. FROM RANDOM PROCESSES TO GENERALIZED FIELDS: A UNIFIED APPROACH  
TO  STOCHASTIC INTEGRATION

S. V. Lototsky and K. Stemmann

The paper studies stochastic integration with respect to Gaussian  
processes
and fields. It is more convenient to work with a field than a  
process: by
definition, a field is a collection of stochastic integrals for a  
class of
deterministic integrands. The problem is then to extend the  
definition to
random integrands. An orthogonal decomposition of chaos space of the  
random
field leads to two such extensions, corresponding to the \Ito- 
Skorokhod and the
Stratononovich integrals, and provides an efficient tool to study these
integrals, both analytically and numerically. For a Gaussian process,  
a natural
definition of the integral follows from a canonical correspondence  
between
random processes and a special class of random fields.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2391

---------------------------------------------------------------

5711. ANALYSIS OF THE EXPECTED NUMBER OF BIT COMPARISONS REQUIRED BY   
QUICKSELECT

James Allen Fill and  Take Nakama

When algorithms for sorting and searching are applied to keys that are
represented as bit strings, we can quantify the performance of the  
algorithms
not only in terms of the number of key comparisons required by the  
algorithms
but also in terms of the number of bit comparisons. Some of the standard
sorting and searching algorithms have been analyzed with respect to key
comparisons but not with respect to bit comparisons. In this paper, we
investigate the expected number of bit comparisons required by  
Quickselect
(also known as Find). We develop exact and asymptotic formulae for  
the expected
number of bit comparisons required to find the smallest or largest  
key by
Quickselect and show that the expectation is asymptotically linear  
with respect
to the number of keys. Similar results are obtained for the average  
case. For
finding keys of arbitrary rank, we derive an exact formula for the  
expected
number of bit comparisons that (using rational arithmetic) requires  
only finite
summation (rather than such operations as numerical integration) and  
use it to
compute the expectation for each target rank.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2437

---------------------------------------------------------------

5712. ON THE GENEALOGY ON CONDITIONED STABLE L\'EVY FOREST

Loic Chaumont (LAREMA) and  Juan Carlos Pardo Millan (PMA)

We give a realization of the stable L\'evy forest of a given size  
conditioned
by its mass from the path of the unconditioned forest. Then, we prove an
invariance principle for this conditioned forest by considering $k$  
independent
Galton-Watson trees whose offspring distribution is in the domain of  
attraction
of any stable law conditioned on their total progeny to be equal to $n 
$. We
prove that when $n$ and $k$ tend towards $+\infty$, under suitable  
rescaling,
the associated coding random walk, the contour and height processes  
converge in
law on the Skorokhod space respectively towards the "first passage  
bridge" of a
stable L\'evy process with no negative jumps and its height process.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2605

---------------------------------------------------------------

5713. OPTIMAL POINTWISE APPROXIMATION OF STOCHASTIC DIFFERENTIAL  
EQUATIONS  DRIVEN BY FRACTIONAL BROWNIAN MOTION

Andreas Neuenkirch

We study the approximation of stochastic differential equations  
driven by a
fractional Brownian motion with Hurst parameter $H>1/2$. For the mean- 
square
error at a single point we derive the optimal rate of convergence  
that can be
achieved by any approximation method using an equidistant  
discretization of the
driving fractional Brownian motion. We find that there are mainly two  
cases:
either the solution can be approximated perfectly or the best  
possible rate of
convergence is $n^{-H-1/2},$ where $n$ denotes the number of  
evaluations of the
fractional Brownian motion. In addition, we present an implementable
approximation scheme that obtains the optimal rate of convergence in  
the latter
case.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2636

---------------------------------------------------------------

5714. SOME APPLICATIONS OF THE MELLIN TRANSFORM TO BRANCHING PROCESSES

Wolfgang P. Angerer

We introduce a Mellin transform of functions which live on all of $\bR 
$ and
discuss its applications to the limiting theory of Bellman-Harris  
processes,
and specifically Luria-Delbr\"uck processes. More precisely, we  
calculate the
life-time distribution of particles in a Bellman-Harris process from  
their
first-generation offspring and limiting distributions, and prove a  
formula for
the Laplace transform of the distribution of types in a Luria-Delbr\"uck
process in the Mittag-Leffler limit. As a by-product, we show how to  
easily
derive the (classical) Mellin transforms of certain stable probability
distributions from their Fourier transform.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2638

---------------------------------------------------------------

5715. ON THE NUMBER OF NODAL DOMAINS OF RANDOM SPHERICAL HARMONICS

Fedor Nazarov and Mikhail Sodin

Let N(f) be a number of nodal domains of a random Gaussian spherical  
harmonic
f of degree n. We prove that as n grows to infinity, the mean of N(f)/ 
n^2 tends
to a positive constant, and that N(f)/n^2 exponentially concentrates  
around
that constant.
   This result is consistent with predictions made by Bogomolny and  
Schmit using
a percolation-like model for nodal domains of random Gaussian plane  
waves.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2409

---------------------------------------------------------------

5716. AN EXTENSION OF A BOURGAIN--LINDENSTRAUSS--MILMAN INEQUALITY

Omer Friedland and Sasha Sodin

Let || . || be a norm on R^n. Averaging || (\eps_1 x_1, ..., \eps_n  
x_n) ||
over all the 2^n choices of \eps = (\eps_1, ..., \eps_n) in {-1, +1} 
^n, we
obtain an expression ||| . ||| which is an unconditional norm on R^n.
   Bourgain, Lindenstrauss and Milman showed that, for a certain (large)
constant \eta > 1, one may average over (\eta n) (random) choices of  
\eps and
obtain a norm that is isomorphic to ||| . |||. We show that this is  
the case
for any \eta > 1.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2483

---------------------------------------------------------------

5717. DIOPHANTINE BOUNDS ON THE CONCENTRATION FUNCTION

Omer Friedland and Sasha Sodin

We demonstrate a simple analytic argument that may be used to bound  
the Levy
concentration function of a sum of independent random variables. The  
main
application is a version of a recent inequality due to Rudelson and  
Vershynin.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2679

---------------------------------------------------------------

5718. SMALL DEVIATION PROBABILITY VIA CHAINING

Frank Aurzada and Mikhail Lifshits

We obtain several extensions of Talagrand's lower bound for the small
deviation probability using metric entropy. For Gaussian processes, our
investigations are focused on processes with sub-polynomial and,  
respectively,
exponential behaviour of covering numbers. The corresponding results  
are also
proved for non-Gaussian symmetric stable processes, both for the  
cases of
critically small and critically large entropy. The results  
extensively use the
classical chaining technique; at the same time they are meant to  
explore the
limits of this method.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2720

---------------------------------------------------------------

5719. ON CERTAIN BOUNDS FOR FIRST-CROSSING-TIME PROBABILITIES OF A   
JUMP-DIFFUSION PROCESS

Antonio Di Crescenzo and  Elvira Di Nardo and  Luigi M. Ricciardi

We consider the first-crossing-time problem through a constant  
boundary for a
Wiener process perturbed by random jumps driven by a counting  
process. On the
base of a sample-path analysis of the jump-diffusion process we  
obtain explicit
lower bounds for the first-crossing-time density and for the
first-crossing-time distribution function. In the case of the  
distribution
function, the bound is improved by use of processes comparison based  
on the
usual stochastic order. The special case of constant jumps driven by  
a Poisson
process is thoroughly discussed.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2755

---------------------------------------------------------------

5720. SCALED ENTROPY OF FILTRATIONS OF $\SIGMA$-FIELDS

A.Vershik and  A.Gorbulsky

We study the notion of the scaled entropy of a filtration of $\sigma$- 
fields
(= decreasing sequence of $\sigma$-fields) introduced by the first  
author
({V4}). We suggest a method for computing this entropy for the  
sequence of
$\sigma$-fields of pasts of a Markov process determined by a random  
walk over
the trajectories of a Bernoulli action of a commutative or nilpotent  
countable
group (Theorems~5,~6). Since the scaled entropy is a metric invariant  
of the
filtration, it follows that the sequences of $\sigma$-fields of pasts  
of random
walks over the trajectories of Bernoulli actions of lattices (groups $ 
{\Bbb
Z}^d$) are metrically nonisomorphic for different dimensions $d$, and  
for the
same $d$ but different values of the entropy of the Bernoulli scheme.  
We give a
brief survey of the metric theory of filtrations, in particular,  
formulate the
standardness criterion and describe its connections with the scaled  
entropy and
the notion of a tower of measures.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2758

---------------------------------------------------------------

5721. ASYMPTOTICS OF THE ALLELE FREQUENCY SPECTRUM ASSOCIATED WITH  
THE  BOLTHAUSEN-SZNITMAN COALESCENT

Anne-Laure Basdevant and Christina Goldschmidt

We work in the context of the infinitely many alleles model. The allelic
partition associated with a coalescent process started from n  
individuals is
obtained by placing mutations along the skeleton of the coalescent  
tree; for
each individual, we trace back to the most recent mutation affecting  
it and
group together individuals whose most recent mutations are the same.  
The number
of blocks of each of the different possible sizes in this partition  
is the
allele frequency spectrum. The celebrated Ewens sampling formula  
gives precise
probabilities for the allele frequency spectrum associated with  
Kingman's
coalescent. This (and the degenerate star-shaped coalescent) are the  
only
Lambda coalescents for which explicit probabilities are known,  
although they
are known to satisfy a recursion due to Moehle. Recently, Berestycki,
Berestycki and Schweinsberg have proved asymptotic results for the  
allele
frequency spectra of the Beta(2-alpha,alpha) coalescents with alpha  
in (1,2).
In this paper, we prove full asymptotics for the case of the
Bolthausen-Sznitman coalescent.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2808

---------------------------------------------------------------

5722. GROUP REPRESENTATIONS AND HIGH-RESOLUTION CENTRAL LIMIT  
THEOREMS FOR  SUBORDINATED SPHERICAL RANDOM FIELDS

Domenico Marinucci (DIPMAT) and  Giovanni Peccati (LSTA)

We study the weak convergence (in the high-frequency limit) of the  
frequency
components associated with Gaussian-subordinated, spherical and  
isotropic
random fields. In particular, we provide conditions for asymptotic  
Gaussianity
and we establish a new connection with random walks on the the dual  
of SO(3),
which mirrors analogous results previously established for fields  
defined on
Abelian groups (see Marinucci and Peccati (2007)). Our work is  
motivated by
applications to cosmological data analysis, and specifically by the
probabilistic modelling and the statistical analysis of the Cosmic  
Microwave
Background radiation, which is currently at the frontier of physical  
research.
To obtain our main results, we prove several fine estimates involving
convolutions of the so-called Clebsch-Gordan coefficients (which are  
elements
of unitary matrices connecting reducible representations of SO(3);  
this allows
to intepret most of our asymptotic conditions in terms of coupling of  
angular
momenta in a quantum mechanical system. Part of the proofs are based on
recently established criteria for the weak convergence of multiple  
Wiener-It\^o
integrals. In particular, an Appendix contains some useful new results
concerning the asymptotic Gaussianity of sequences of vector-valued  
multiple
integrals.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.2851

---------------------------------------------------------------

5723. QUASI-INVARIANCE PROPERTIES OF A CLASS OF SUBORDINATORS

Max-K. Von Renesse and  Marc Yor (PMA) and  Lorenzo Zambotti (PMA)

We study absolute-continuity properties of a class of stochastic  
processes,
including the gamma and the Dirichlet processes. We prove that the  
laws of a
general class of non-linear transformations of such processes are  
locally
equivalent to the law of the original process and we compute  
explicitly the
associated Radon-Nikodym densities. This work unifies and generalizes  
to random
non-linear transformations several previous results on quasi- 
invariance of
gamma and Dirichlet processes.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3010

---------------------------------------------------------------

5724. IMPLICIT FUNCTION DENSITY COMPUTATION

Kerry Michael Soileau

If two random variables X and A are functionally related via f(X)=A  
for some
strictly monotone continuously differentiable function f:R->R, the  
distribution
of X may easily be computed from the distribution of A.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3037

---------------------------------------------------------------

5725. THE CHARACTERISTIC POLYNOMIAL ON COMPACT GROUPS WITH HAAR  
MEASURE : SOME  EQUALITIES IN LAW

Paul Bourgade and  Ashkan Nikeghbali and Alain Rouault

This note presents some equalities in law for $Z_N:=\det(\Id-G)$,  
where $G$
is an element of a subgroup of the set of unitary matrices of size $N 
$, endowed
with its unique probability Haar measure. Indeed, under some general
conditions, $Z_N$ can be decomposed as a product of independent random
variables, whose laws are explicitly known. Our results can be  
obtained in two
ways : either by a recursive decomposition of the Haar measure or by  
previous
results by Killip and Nenciu on orthogonal polynomials with respect  
to some
measure on the unit circle. This latter method leads naturally to a  
study of
determinants of a class of principal submatrices.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3057

---------------------------------------------------------------

5726. POLYNOMIAL RATE CONVERGENCE TO AN INVARIANT MEASURE FOR THE  
CONTINUUM  TIME LIMIT OF THE MINORITY GAME

Matteo Ortisi

In this paper we study the long time behavior of the continuum time  
version
of the Minority Game in terms of existence of an invariant measure  
for the
stochastic differential equation governing it and convergence to such a
measure. We consider the special case of a game where the number of  
possible
choices for each individual is S=2 and agents play ``mixed'' strategies
$(\Gamma<\infty)$. Our approach is based on polynomial mixing bounds for
stochastic differential equations.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3114

---------------------------------------------------------------

5727. REMARKS ON THE DENSITY OF THE LAW OF THE OCCUPATION TIME FOR  
BESSEL  BRIDGES AND STABLE EXCURSIONS

Kouji Yano and Yuko Yano

Smoothness and asymptotic behaviors are studied for the densities of  
the law
of the occupation time on the positive line for Bessel bridges and the
normalized excursion of strictly stable processes. The key role is  
played by
these properties for functions defined by Riemann--Liouville fractional
integrals.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3162

---------------------------------------------------------------

5728. TAU-FUNCTION OF DISCRETE ISOMONODROMY TRANSFORMATIONS AND  
PROBABILITY

D. Arinkin and A. Borodin

We introduce the tau-function of a rational d-connection and its  
isomonodromy
transformations. We show that in a continuous limit our tau-function  
agrees
with the Jimbo-Miwa-Ueno tau-function, compute the tau-function for the
isomonodromy transformations leading to difference Painleve V and  
difference
Painleve VI equations, and prove that the gap probability for a wide  
class of
discrete random matrix type models can be viewed as the tau-function  
for an
associated d-connection.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3073

---------------------------------------------------------------

5729. A MODEL FOR COUNTERPARTY RISK WITH GEOMETRIC ATTENUATION EFFECT  
AND THE  VALUATION OF CDS

Yunfen Bai (1 and 2) and  Xinhua Hu (1) and  Zhongxing Ye (1) ((1) 
Department  of Mathematics, Shanghai Jiaotong University; (2) 
Department of Mathematics,
   Shijiazhuang College)

In this paper, a geometric function is introduced to reflect the  
attenuation
speed of impact of one firm's default to its partner. If two firms are
competitions (copartners), the default intensity of one firm will  
decrease
(increase) abruptly when the other firm defaults. As time goes on,  
the impact
will decrease gradually until extinct. In this model, the joint  
distribution
and marginal distributions of default times are derived by employing  
the change
of measure, so can we value the fair swap premium of a CDS.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3331

---------------------------------------------------------------

5730. RADIUS AND PROFILE OF RANDOM PLANAR MAPS WITH FACES OF  
ARBITRARY DEGREES

Gr\'egory Miermont (LM-Orsay) and  Mathilde Weill (DMA)

We prove some asymptotic results for the radius and the profile of large
random rooted planar maps with faces of arbitrary degrees. Using a  
bijection
due to Bouttier, Di Francesco and Guitter between rooted planar maps and
certain four-type trees with positive labels, we derive our results  
from a
conditional limit theorem for four-type spatial Galton-Watson trees.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3334

---------------------------------------------------------------

5731. PROBABILISTIC REPRESENTATIONS OF SOLUTIONS OF THE FORWARD  
EQUATIONS

B. Rajeev and S. Thangavelu

In this paper we prove a stochastic representation for solutions of the
evolution equation $ \partial_t \psi_t = {1/2}L^*\psi_t $ where $ L^*  
$ is the
formal adjoint of an elliptic second order differential operator with  
smooth
coefficients corresponding to the infinitesimal generator of a finite
dimensional diffusion $ (X_t).$ Given $ \psi_0 = \psi $, a  
distribution with
compact support, this representation has the form $ \psi_t = E(Y_t 
(\psi))$
where the process $ (Y_t(\psi))$ is the solution of a stochastic partial
differential equation connected with the stochastic differential  
equation for $
(X_t) $ via Ito's formula.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3352

---------------------------------------------------------------

5732. SOLVING SPDES DRIVEN BY COLORED NOISE: A CHAOS APPROACH

S. V. Lototsky and K. Stemmann

An Ito-Skorokhod bi-linear equation driven by infinitely many  
independent
colored noises is considered in a normal triple of Hilbert spaces.  
The special
feature of the equation is the appearance of the Wick product in the  
definition
of the Ito-Skorokhod integral, requiring innovative approaches to  
computing the
solution. A chaos expansion of the solution is derived and several  
truncations
of this expansion are studied. A recursive approximation of the  
solution is
suggested and the corresponding approximation error bound is computed.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3392

---------------------------------------------------------------

5733. FLOCKING IN NOISY ENVIRONMENTS

Felipe Cucker and Ernesto Mordecki

We consider a perturbed version of the dynamics of a flock introduced by
Cucker and Smale ("Emergent behaviour in flocks") and prove, under  
similar
conditions, that nearly-alignment (a concept that is precised in the  
text) is
achieved with a certain probability, bounded from below.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3343

---------------------------------------------------------------

5734. FRACTAL AND INCREASING PATHS CHARACTERIZATIONS OF THE SET- 
INDEXED  FRACTIONAL BROWNIAN MOTION

Erick Herbin and Ely Merzbach

The set-indexed fractional Brownian motion (sifBm) has been defined by
Herbin-Merzbach (2006) for indices that are subsets of a metric  
measure space.
In this paper, the sifBm is proved to be the only set-indexed process  
whose
projection on any increasing path is a one-dimensional fractional  
Brownian
motion. The limitation of its definition for a set-similarity  
parameter 0<H<1/2
is studied. When the indexing collection is totally ordered, the  
sifBm can be
defined for 0<H<1.
   The set-indexed fractional Brownian motion is proved to statisfy a
strenghtened definition of increment stationarity. This new  
definition for
stationarity property allows to get a complete characterization of  
this process
by its fractal properties. The sifBm is the only set-indexed Gaussian  
process
which is self-similar and has stationary increments.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3472

---------------------------------------------------------------

5735. SPIN GLASSES AND STEIN'S METHOD

Sourav Chatterjee

We introduce some applications of Stein's method in the high temperature
analysis of spin glasses. One of the main advantages of Stein's  
method is that
it gives limit theorems with total variation error bounds, which is not
possible by the method of moments (the only method used to prove such  
results
in spin glasses till now). Considering the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick  
model as a
specific example, we obtain error bounds in quenched central limit  
theorems for
(i) the cavity field, (ii) the hamiltonian in the high temperature  
phase under
zero external field, and (iii) the local fields in the absence of a  
cavity. The
last result deserves special mention because the limit distributions are
asymmetric mixtures of pairs of gaussians rather than pure gaussians. A
surprising byproduct of this result is a simple and transparent proof  
of the
famous Thouless-Anderson-Palmer (TAP) equations that solve the high  
temperature
phase of the SK model.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3500

---------------------------------------------------------------

5736. A PHASE TRANSITION BEHAVIOR FOR BROWNIAN MOTIONS INTERACTING  
THROUGH  THEIR RANKS

Sourav Chatterjee and Soumik Pal

Consider a time-varying collection of n points on the positive real  
axis,
modeled as exponentials of n Brownian motions whose drift vector at  
every time
point is determined by the relative ranks of the coordinate processes  
at that
time. If at each time point we divide the points by their sum, under  
suitable
assumptions the rescaled point process converges to a stationary  
distribution
(depending on n and the vector of drifts) as time goes to infinity. This
stationary distribution can be exactly computed using a recent result  
of Pal
and Pitman. The model and the rescaled point process are both central  
objects
of study in models of equity markets introduced by Banner, Fernholz, and
Karatzas. In this paper, we look at the behavior of this point  
process under
the stationary measure as $n$ tends to infinity. Under a certain  
`continuity at
the edge' condition on the drifts, we show that one of the following  
must
happen: either (i) all points converge to zero, or (ii) the maximum  
goes to one
and the rest go to zero, or (iii) the processes converge in law to a
non-trivial Poisson-Dirichlet distribution. The proof employs, among  
other
things, techniques from Talagrand's analysis of the low temperature  
phase of
Derrida's Random Energy Model of spin glasses. The main result  
establishes a
universality property for the BFK models and aids in explicit asymptotic
computations using known results about the Poisson-Dirichlet law.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3558

---------------------------------------------------------------

5737. A PROBLEM IN LAST-PASSAGE PERCOLATION

Harry Kesten and Vladas Sidoravicius

Let $\{X(v), v \in \Bbb Z^d \times \Bbb Z_+\}$ be an i.i.d. family of  
random
variables such that $P\{X(v)= e^b\}=1-P\{X(v)= 1\} = p$ for some $b>0 
$. We
consider paths $\pi \subset \Bbb Z^d \times \Bbb Z_+$ starting at the  
origin
and with the last coordinate increasing along the path, and of length  
$n$.
Define for such paths $W(\pi) = \text{number of vertices $\pi_i, 1  
\le i \le
n$, with}X(\pi_i) = e^b$. Finally let $N_n(\al) = \text{number of  
paths $\pi$
of length $n$ starting at $\pi_0 = \bold 0$ and with $W(\pi) \ge \al n 
$.}$ We
establish several properties of $\lim_{n \to \infty} [N_n]^{1/n}$.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3626

---------------------------------------------------------------

5738. TRANSLATION-INVARIANCE OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL GIBBSIAN POINT PROCESSES

Thomas Richthammer

The conservation of translation as a symmetry in two-dimensional  
systems with
interaction is a classical subject of statistical mechanics. Here we  
establish
such a result for Gibbsian particle systems with two-body  
interaction, where
the interesting cases of singular, hard-core and discontinuous  
interaction are
included. We start with the special case of pure hard core repulsion  
in order
to show how to treat hard cores in general.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3637

---------------------------------------------------------------

5739. NO PHASE TRANSITION FOR GAUSSIAN FIELDS WITH BOUNDED SPINS

Pablo A. Ferrari and  Sebastian P. Grynberg

Let a<b, \Omega=[a,b]^{\Z^d} and H be the (formal) Hamiltonian  
defined on
\Omega by
   H(\eta) = \frac12 \sum_{x,y\in\Z^d} J(x-y) (\eta(x)-\eta(y))^2 where
J:\Z^d\to\R is any summable non-negative symmetric function (J(x)\ge  
0 for all
x\in\Z^d, \sum_x J(x)<\infty and J(x)=J(-x)). We prove that there is  
a unique
Gibbs measure on \Omega associated to H. The result is a consequence  
of the
fact that the corresponding Gibbs sampler is attractive and has a unique
invariant measure.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3714

---------------------------------------------------------------

5740. ON SYSTEMATIC SCAN FOR SAMPLING H-COLOURINGS OF THE PATH

Kasper Pedersen

This paper is concerned with sampling from the uniform distribution on
H-colourings of the n-vertex path using systematic scan Markov  
chains. An
H-colouring of the n-vertex path is a homomorphism from the n-vertex  
path to
some fixed graph H. We show that systematic scan for H-colourings of the
n-vertex path mixes in O(log n) scans for any fixed H. This is a  
significant
improvement over the previous bound on the mixing time which was O 
(n^5) scans.
Furthermore we show that for a slightly more restricted family of H  
(where any
two vertices are connected by a 2-edge path) systematic scan also  
mixes in
O(log n) scans for any scan order. Finally, for completeness, we show  
that a
random update Markov chain mixes in O(n log n) updates for any fixed H,
improving the previous bound on the mixing time from O(n^5) updates.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3794

---------------------------------------------------------------

5741. RANDOM SAMPLING OF ENTIRE FUNCTIONS OF EXPONENTIAL TYPE IN  
SEVERAL  VARIABLES

Karlheinz Gr\"ochenig and  Richard F. Bass

We consider the problem of random sampling for band-limited  
functions. When
can a band-limited function $f$ be recovered from randomly chosen  
samples
$f(x_j), j\in \mathbb{N}$? We estimate the probability that a sampling
inequality of the form
   A\|f\|_2^2 \leq \sum_{j\in \mathbb{N}} |f(x_j)|^2 \leq B \|f\|_2^2  
hold
uniformly all functions $f\in L^2(\mathbb{R}^d)$ with supp $\hat{f}  
\subseteq
[-1/2,1/2]^d$ or some subset of \bdl functions. In contrast to  
discrete models,
the space of band-limited functions is infinite-dimensional and its  
functions
``live'' on the unbounded set $\mathbb{R}^d$. This fact raises new  
problems and
leads to both negative and positive results. (a) With probability  
one, the
sampling inequality fails for any reasonable definition of a random  
set on
$\mathbb{R}^d$, e.g., for spatial Poisson processes or uniform  
distribution
over disjoint cubes. (b) With overwhelming probability, the sampling  
inequality
holds for certain compact subsets of the space of band-limited  
functions and
for sufficiently large sampling size.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3818

---------------------------------------------------------------

5742. GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF SOME DUALITY RELATIONS IN  
STOCHASTIC  POPULATION MODELS

Roland Alkemper and  Martin Hutzenthaler

We derive a unified stochastic picture for the duality of a
resampling-selection model with a branching-coalescing particle  
process (cf.
http://www.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=MR2123250) and for the self- 
duality of
Feller's branching diffusion with logistic growth (cf. math/0509612).  
The two
dual processes are approximated by particle processes which are  
forward and
backward processes in a graphical representation. We identify duality  
relations
between the basic building blocks of the particle processes which  
lead to the
two dualities mentioned above.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3852

---------------------------------------------------------------

5743. ON PROBABILITIES FOR SEPARATING SETS OF ORDER STATISTICS

Deborah H. Glueck and  Anis Karimpour-Fard and  Jan Mandel and  Keith  
E. Muller

Consider a set of order statistics that arise from sorting samples  
from two
different populations, each with their own, possibly different  
distribution
function. The probability that these order statistics fall in  
disjoint, ordered
intervals, and that of the smallest statistics, a certain number come  
from the
first populations, are given in terms of the two distribution  
functions. The
result is applied to computing the joint probability of the number of
rejections and the number of false rejections for the Benjamini- 
Hochberg false
discovery rate procedure.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3520

---------------------------------------------------------------

5744. CONVEX GEOMETRIES IN K-SAT PROBLEMS

Federico Ardila and Elitza Maneva

In analyzing the survey propagation algorithm, Maneva, Mossel, and  
Wainwright
discovered a polynomial identity that holds for a Boolean formula F  
and a
satisfying assignment a. We show that F and a give rise to a convex  
geometry,
and that convex geometries are precisely the combinatorial objects  
satisfying
(the multivariate analog of) that polynomial identity.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3750

---------------------------------------------------------------

5745. STOCHASTIC CONTROL PROBLEMS FOR SYSTEMS DRIVEN BY NORMAL  
MARTINGALES

Rainer Buckdahn and  Jin Ma and  Catherine Rainer

In this paper we study a class of stochastic control problems in  
which the
control of the jump size is essential. Such a model is a generalized  
version
for various applied problems ranging from optimal reinsurance  
selections for
general insurance models to queueing theory. The main novel point of  
such a
control problem is that by changing the jump size of the system, one
essentially changes the type of the driving martingale. Such a  
feature does not
seem to have been investigated in any existing stochastic control  
literature.
We shall first provide a rigorous theoretical foundation for the control
problem by establishing an existence result for the multidimensional  
structure
equation on a Wiener-Poisson space, given an arbitrary bounded jump size
control process; and by providing an auxiliary counterexample showing  
the
non-uniqueness for such solutions. Based on these theoretical results  
we then
formulate the control problem and prove the Bellman Principle, and  
derive the
corresponding Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation, which in this  
case is a
mixed second-order partial differential/difference equation. Finally  
we prove a
uniqueness result for the viscosity solution of such an HJB equation.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.4018

---------------------------------------------------------------

5746. STOPPED DIFFUSION PROCESSES: OVERSHOOTS AND BOUNDARY CORRECTION

Emmanuel Gobet (LJK) and  St\'ephane Menozzi (PMA)

For a stopped diffusion process in a time dependent domain, we obtain  
the
asymptotics of the triplet exit time/exit position/overshoot for the  
discretely
stopped Euler scheme. Here, the overshoot means the distance to the  
boundary of
the process when it exits the domain. As a first consequence of this  
result, we
obtain an expansion for the weak error. From the expansion and the  
sensitivity
of the underlying Dirichlet problem with respect to the domain, we  
finally
derive a procedure to improve the convergence by suitably restraining  
the
domain.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.4042

---------------------------------------------------------------

5747. AN EFFECTIVE CRITERION AND A NEW EXAMPLE FOR BALLISTIC  
DIFFUSIONS IN  RANDOM ENVIRONMENT

Laurent Goergen

In the setting of multi-dimensional diffusions in random environment, we
carry on the investigation of condition (T'), introduced by Sznitman  
in [18]
and by Schmitz in [11] respectively in the discrete and continuous  
setting, and
which implies a law of large numbers with non vanishing limiting  
velocity
(ballistic behaviour) as well as a central limit theorem.  
Specifically, we show
that when $d \geq 2$, (T') is equivalent to an effective condition  
that can be
checked by local inspection of the environment. When d=1, we prove that
condition (T') is merely equivalent to almost sure transience. As an
application of the effective criterion, we show that when $d \geq 4$ a
perturbation of Brownian motion by a random drift of size at most $ 
\epsilon>0$
whose projection on some direction has expectation bigger than
$\epsilon^{2-\eta}, \eta > 0$, satisfies condition (T') when $\epsilon 
$ is
small and hence exhibits ballistic behaviour. This class of  
diffusions contains
new examples of ballistic behaviour which in particular do not  
fulfill the
condition in [11], (5.4) therein, related to Kalikow's condition, see  
[21].


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.4069

---------------------------------------------------------------

5748. EULER WALK ON A CAYLEY TREE

A.E. Patrick

We show that the Euler walk on a Cayley tree exhibits two regimes  
(dynamic
phases): a condensed phase and a low-density phase. In the condensed  
phase the
self-organized area grows as a compact domain. In the low-density  
phase the
proportion of self-organized (visited) nodes decreases rapidly from one
generation of the tree to the next. We describe in detail returns of  
the Euler
walk to the root and growth of the self-organized domain in the  
condensed
phase. We also investigate the critical behaviour of the Euler walk  
at the
point separating the two regimes.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.3161

---------------------------------------------------------------

5749. CHERNOFF'S THEOREM FOR EVOLUTION FAMILIES

Evelina Shamarova

A generalized version of Chernoff's theorem has been obtained.  
Namely, the
version of Chernoff's theorem for semigroups obtained in a paper by  
Smolyanov,
Weizsaecker, and Wittich is generalized for a time-inhomogeneous  
case. The main
theorem obtained in the current paper, Chernoff's theorem for evolution
families, deals with a family of time-dependent generators of  
semigroups $A_t$
on a Banach space, a two-parameter family of operators $Q_{t,t+\Delta  
t}$
satisfying the relation: $\frac{\partial}{\partial \Delta t}Q_{t,t+ 
\Delta
t}|_{\Delta t = 0}=A_t$, whose products $Q_{t_i,t_{i+1}}... Q_{t_ 
{k-1},t_k}$
are uniformly bounded for all subpartitions $s = t_0 < t_1 < >... <  
t_n = t$.
The theorem states that $Q_{t_0,t_1}... Q_{t_{n-1},t_n}$ converges to an
evolution family $U(s,t)$ solving a non-autonomous Cauchy problem.  
Furthermore,
the theorem is formulated for a particular case when the generators  
$A_t$ are
time dependent second order differential operators. Finally, an  
example of
application of this theorem to a construction of time-inhomogeneous  
diffusions
on a compact Riemannian manifold is given.
   Keywords: Chernoff's theorem, evolution family, strongly continuous
semigroup, evolution families generated by manifold valued stochastic
processes.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.4079

---------------------------------------------------------------

5750. ADAPTIVE DYNAMICS IN LOGISTIC BRANCHING POPULATIONS

Nicolas Champagnat and  Amaury Lambert (FESE)

We consider a trait-structured population subject to mutation, birth and
competition of logistic type, where the number of coexisting types may
fluctuate. Applying a limit of rare mutations to this population  
while keeping
the population size finite leads to a jump process, the so-called `trait
substitution sequence', where evolution proceeds by successive  
invasions and
fixations of mutant types. The probability of fixation of a mutant is
interpreted as a fitness landscape that depends on the current state  
of the
population. It was in adaptive dynamics that this kind of model was  
first
invented and studied, under the additional assumption of large  
population.
Assuming also small mutation steps, adaptive dynamics' theory provides a
deterministic ODE approximating the evolutionary dynamics of the  
dominant trait
of the population, called `canonical equation of adaptive dynamics'.  
In this
work, we want to include genetic drift in this models by keeping the  
population
finite. Rescaling mutation steps (weak selection) yields in this case a
diffusion on the trait space that we call `canonical diffusion of  
adaptive
dynamics', in which genetic drift (diffusive term) is combined with  
directional
selection (deterministic term) driven by the fitness gradient.  
Finally, in
order to compute the coefficients of this diffusion, we seek explicit
first-order formulae for the probability of fixation of a nearly  
neutral mutant
appearing in a resident population. These formulae are expressed in  
terms of
`invasibility coefficients' associated with fertility, defense,  
aggressiveness
and isolation, which measure the robustness (stability w.r.t. selective
strengths) of the resident type. Some numerical results on the canonical
diffusion are also given.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.4157

---------------------------------------------------------------

5751. HARMONIC ANALYSIS OF ADDITIVE LEVY PROCESSES

Davar Khoshnevisan and Yimin Xiao

Let $X_1,...,X_N$ denote $N$ independent $d$-dimensional L\'evy  
processes,
and consider the $N$-parameter random field \[\X(\bm{t}):=
X_1(t_1)+...+X_N(t_N).\] First we demonstrate that for all nonrandom  
Borel sets
$F\subseteq\R^d$, the Minkowski sum $\X(\R^N_+)\oplus F$, of the range
$\X(\R^N_+)$ of $\X$ with $F$, can have positive $d$-dimensional  
Lebesgue
measure if and only if a certain capacity of $F$ is positive. This  
improves our
earlier joint effort with Yuquan Zhong \ycite{KXZ:03} by removing a
symmetry-type condition there. Moreover, we show that under mild  
regularity
conditions, our necessary and sufficient condition can be recast in  
terms of
one-potential densities. This rests on developing results in classical
[non-probabilistic] harmonic analysis that might be of independent  
interest. As
was shown in \fullocite{KXZ:03}, the potential theory of the type  
studied here
has a large number of consequences in the theory of L\'evy processes. We
present a few new consequences here.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.4164

---------------------------------------------------------------

5752. TRANSPORTATION-INFORMATION INEQUALITIES FOR MARKOV PROCESSES

Arnaud Guillin (LATP) and  Christian Leonard (CMAP and  MODAL'X) and   
Liming Wu and   Nian Yao

In this paper, one investigates the following type of
transportation-information $T_cI$ inequalities: $\alpha(T_c(\nu,\mu))\le
I(\nu|\mu)$ for all probability measures $\nu$ on some metric space $ 
(\XX, d)$,
where $\mu$ is a given probability measure, $T_c(\nu,\mu)$ is the
transportation cost from $\nu$ to $\mu$ with respect to some cost  
function
$c(x,y)$ on $\XX^2$, $I(\nu|\mu)$ is the Fisher-Donsker-Varadhan  
information of
$\nu$ with respect to $\mu$ and $\alpha: [0,\infty)\to [0,\infty]$ is  
some left
continuous increasing function. Using large deviation techniques, it  
is shown
that $T_cI$ is equivalent to some concentration inequality for the  
occupation
measure of a $\mu$-reversible ergodic Markov process related to $I 
(\cdot|\mu)$,
a counterpart of the characterizations of transportation-entropy  
inequalities,
recently obtained by Gozlan and L\'eonard in the i.i.d. case .  
Tensorization
properties of $T_cI$ are also derived.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.4193

---------------------------------------------------------------

5753. SUBSAMPLING NEEDLET COEFFICIENTS ON THE SPHERE

Paolo Baldi and  Gerard Kerkyacharian and  Domenico Marinucci and   
Dominique  Picard

In a recent paper, we analyzed the properties of a new kind of spherical
wavelets (so-called needlets) for statistical inference procedures on  
spherical
random fields; the results were mainly motivated by applications to
cosmological data. In the present work, we exploit the asymptotic  
uncorrelation
of random needlet coefficients at fixed angular distances to construct
subsampling statistics evaluated on Voronoi cells on the sphere. We  
illustrate
how such statistics can be used for isotropy tests and for bootstrap  
estimation
of nuisance parameters, even when a single realization of the  
spherical random
field is observed. The asymptotic theory is developed in details, in  
the high
resolution sense.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.4169

---------------------------------------------------------------

5754. RESILIENCE OF GRAPHS

Benny Sudakov and Van Vu

In this paper, we initiate a systematic study of graph resilience. The
(local) resilience of a graph G with respect to a property P measures  
how much
one has to change G (locally) in order to destroy P. Estimating the  
resilience
leads to many new and challenging problems. Here we focus on random and
pseudo-random graphs and prove several sharp results.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.4104

---------------------------------------------------------------

5755. MULTI-DIMENSIONAL BSDE WITH OBLIQUE REFLECTION AND OPTIMAL  
SWITCHING

Ying Hu (IRMAR) and  Shanjian Tang (School of Mathematical Sciences)

In this paper, we study a multi-dimensional backward stochastic  
differential
equation (BSDE) with oblique reflection, which is a BSDE reflected on  
the
boundary of a special unbounded convex domain along an oblique  
direction, and
which arises naturally in the study of optimal switching problem. The  
existence
of the adapted solution is obtained by the penalization method, the  
monotone
convergence, and the a priori estimations. The uniqueness is obtained  
by a
verification method (the first component of any adapted solution is  
shown to be
the vector value of a switching problem for BSDEs). As applications,  
we apply
the above results to solve the optimal switching problem for stochastic
differential equations of functional type, and we give also a  
probabilistic
interpretation of a system of variational inequalities.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.4365

---------------------------------------------------------------

5756. TIGHTNESS OF VOTER MODEL INTERFACES

Anja Sturm and Jan M. Swart

Consider a long-range, one-dimensional voter model started with all  
zeros on
the negative integers and all ones on the positive integers. If the  
process
obtained by identifying states that are translations of each other is
positively recurrent, then it is said that the voter model exhibits  
interface
tightness. In 1995, Cox and Durrett proved that one-dimensional voter  
models
exhibit interface tightness if their infection rates have a finite third
moment. Recently, Belhaouari, Mountford, and Valle have improved this by
showing that a finite second moment suffices. The present paper gives  
a new
short proof of this fact. We also prove interface tightness for a  
long range
swapping voter model, which has a mixture of long range voter model and
exclusion process dynamics.


  http://arxiv.org/abs/0706.4405




-----------------------------
Stefano Iacus
IMS Groups Editor







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