We consider the rates of convergence of the quenched central limit theorem for hitting times of one-dimensional random walks in a random environment. Previous results had identified polynomial upper bounds for the rates of decay which are sometimes slower than $n^{-1/2}$ (the optimal rate in the classical Berry-Esseen estimates). Here we prove that the previous upper bounds are in fact the best possible polynomial rates for the quenched CLT.
In this article we continue the study of the quenched distributions of transient, one-dimensional random walks in a random environment. In a previous article we showed that while the quenched distributions of the hitting times do not converge to any deterministic distribution, they do have a weak weak limit in the sense that - viewed as random elements of the space of probability measures - they converge in distribution to a certain random probability measure (we refer to this as a weak weak limit because it is a weak limit in the weak topology). Here, we improve this result to the path-valued…
We consider random walk on the structure given by a random hypergraph in the regime where there is a unique giant component. We give the asymptotics for hitting times, cover times, and commute times and show that the results obtained for random walk on random graphs are universal.
We consider a one-dimensional, transient random walk in a random i.i.d. environment. The asymptotic behaviour of such random walk depends to a large extent on a crucial parameter $κ>0$ that determines the fluctuations of the process. When $0<κ<2$, the averaged distributions of the hitting times of the random walk converge to a $κ$-stable distribution. However, it was shown recently that in this case there does not exist a quenched limiting distribution of the hitting times. That is, it is not true that for almost every fixed environment, the distributions of the hitting times (centered and sca…
We give Harnack inequalities for the hitting distributions of a large family of symmetric random walks on $\Z^2$, and their projections onto the lattice torus $\Z^2_K$. This extends a framework for the simple random walk in Dembo, et al. (2006), and generalizes the results in Bass, Rosen (2007) to the toral projection.
Asymptotic estimates of the hitting distribution of a long segment on the real axis for two dimensional random walks on ${\bf Z}^2$ of zero mean and finite variances are obtained: some are general and exhibit its apparent similarity to the corresponding Brownian density, while others are so detailed as to involve certain characteristics of the random walk.
We consider simple random walk on a realization of an Erdős-Rényi graph that is asymptotically almost surely (a.a.s.) connected. We show a Central Limit Theorem (CLT) for the average starting hitting time, i.e. the expected time it takes the random walker on average to first hit a vertex $j$ when starting in a fixed vertex $i$. The average is taken with respect to $π_j$, the invariant measure of the random walk.
For a symmetric, homogeneous and irreducible random walk on d-dimensional integer lattice Z^d, having zero mean and a finite variance of jumps, we study the passage times (with possible infinite values) determined by the starting point x, the hitting state y and the taboo state z. We find the probability that these passages times are finite and analyze the tails of their cumulative distribution functions. In particular, it turns out that for the random walk on Z^d, except for a simple (nearest neighbor) random walk on Z, the order of the tail decrease is specified by dimension d only. In contr…
We study the behavior of random walk on dynamical percolation. In this model, the edges of a graph G are either open or closed and refresh their status at rate μ while at the same time a random walker moves on G at rate 1 but only along edges which are open. On the d-dimensional torus with side length n, we prove that in the subcritical regime, the mixing times for both the full system and the random walker are n^2/μ up to constants. We also obtain results concerning mean squared displacement and hitting times. Finally, we show that the usual recurrence transience dichotomy for the lattice Z^d…
We consider the probability that a two-dimensional random walk starting from the origin never returns to the half-line $ (- \infty,0] \times {0}$ before time $n$. Let $X^{(1)}=(X_{1},X_{2})$ be the increment of the two-dimensional random walk. For an aperiodic random walk with moment conditions ($E[X_{2}]=0 $ and $ E[|X_{1}|^δ]<\infty, E[|X_{2}|^{2+ δ}]< \infty $ for some $ δ\in (0,1)$), we obtain an asymptotic estimate (as $n \rightarrow \infty $) of this probability by assuming the behavior of the characteristic function of $X_{1}$ near zero.
We consider random walks on the line given by a sequence of independent identically distributed jumps belonging to the strict domain of attraction of a stable distribution, and first determine the almost sure exponential divergence rate, as r goes to zero, of the return time to (-r,r). We then refine this result by establishing a limit theorem for the hitting-time distributions of (x-r,x+r) with arbitrary real x.
Using the results of Ding, Lee, Peres [3], we develop formulas to compute the hitting times and cover times for random walks on groups. We developed an explicit formula for hitting times in terms of the irreducible representations of the group. We also have a way of computing cover times in terms of these hitting times. This computation is based on a quantity we indentified, which we call the volume growth function. And we believe that it is the right object to study in order to understand the cover time.
In this article we investigate the hitting time of some given boundaries for Bessel processes. The main motivation comes from mathematical finance when dealing with volatility models, but the results can also be used in optimal control problems. The aim here is to construct a new and efficient algorithm in order to approach this hitting time. As an application we will consider the hitting time of a given level for the Cox-Ingersoll-Ross process. The main tools we use are on one side, an adaptation of the method of images to this particular situation and on the other side, the connection that e…
We obtain upper bounds (in most cases, sharp) for the hitting times of random walks on finite undirected graphs expressed as functions of the graph's number of edges. In particular, we show that the maximum hitting time for a simple random walk on a connected graph with $m$ edges is at most $m^2$. Similar bounds are given for the settings involving arbitrary edge-weight and edge-cost functions. Upper bounds of this type are especially useful for sparse graphs.
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.
Let $G(N,p)=(V,E)$ be an Erdös-Rényi random graph and $(X_n)_{n \in \mathbb{N}}$ be a simple random walk on it. We study the the order of magnitude of $\sum_{i \in V} π_ih_{ij} $ where $π_i=d_i / 2|E|$ for $d_i$ the number of neighbors of node $i$ and $h_{ij}$ the hitting time for $(X_n)_{n \in \mathbb{N}}$ between nodes $i$ and $j$, in a regime of $p=p(N)$ such that $G(N,p)$ is almost surely connected as $N\to\infty$. Our main result is that $\sum_{i \in V} π_ih_{ij} $ is almost surely of order $N(1+o(1))$ as $N\to \infty$, which coincides with previous results in the physics literature \cite…
We prove new results on lazy random walks on finite graphs. To start, we obtain new estimates on return probabilities $P^t(x,x)$ and the maximum expected hitting time $t_{\rm hit}$, both in terms of the relaxation time. We also prove a discrete-time version of the first-named author's ``Meeting time lemma"~ that bounds the probability of random walk hitting a deterministic trajectory in terms of hitting times of static vertices. The meeting time result is then used to bound the expected full coalescence time of multiple random walks over a graph. This last theorem is a discrete-time version of…
We study the simple random walk on the $n$-dimensional hypercube, in particular its hitting times of large (possibly random) sets. We give simple conditions on these sets ensuring that the properly-rescaled hitting time is asymptotically exponentially distributed, uniformly in the starting position of the walk. These conditions are then verified for percolation clouds with densities that are much smaller than $(n \log n)^{-1}$. A main motivation behind this paper is the study of the so-called aging phenomenon in the Random Energy Model (REM), the simplest model of a mean-field spin glass. Our …
We examine escape and entrance times, Green's functions, local times, and hitting distributions of discs and annuli of a symmetric random walk on $\Z^2$ projected onto the periodic lattice $\Z^2_K$. This extends a framework for the simple planar random walk in Dembo, et al. (2006) to the large class of planar random walks in Bass, Rosen (2007). The approach uses comparisons between $\Z^2$ and $\Z^2_K$ hitting times and distributions on annuli, and uses only random walk methods.
The authors propose a new variation of random walks called ladder chains $L(r,s,p)$. We extend concepts such as ruin probability, hitting time, transience and recurrence of random walks to ladder chain. Take $L(2,2,p)$ for instance, we find the linear difference equations that the ruin probability and the hitting time satisfy. We also prove the recurrence of a critical case $(p=\sqrt{2}-1)$. All approaches of these results can be generalized to solve similar problems for other ladder chains.
We study the quenched behaviour of a perturbed version of the simple symmetric random walk on the set of integers. The random walker moves symmetrically with an exception of some randomly chosen sites where we impose a random drift. We show that if the gaps between the marked sites are i.i.d. and regularly varying with a sufficiently small index, then there is no strong quenched limit laws for the position of the random walker. As a consequence we study the quenched limit laws in the context of weak convergence of random measures.
We consider the small deviation probability for random walk with time-inhomogeneous random environment. Compared with the result in Mogul'ski\uı (1974) for the i.i.d. random walk, the rate is smaller (due to the random environment), which is specified in terms of the quenched and annealed variance.
We prove expectation and concentration results for the following random variables on an Erdős-Rényi random graph $\mathcal{G}\left(n,p\right)$ in the sparsely connected regime $\log n + \log\log \log n \leq np < n^{1/10}$: effective resistances, random walk hitting and commute times, the Kirchoff index, cover cost, random target times, the mean hitting time and Kemeny's constant. For the effective resistance between two vertices our concentration result extends further to $np\geq c\log n, \; c>0$. To achieve these results, we show that a strong connectedness property holds with high probabilit…
The time it takes a random walker in a lattice to reach the origin from another vertex $x$, has infinite mean. If the walker can restart the walk at $x$ at will, then the minimum expected hitting time $T(x,0)$ (minimized over restarting strategies) is finite; it was called the ``grade'' of $x$ by Dumitriu, Tetali and Winkler. They showed that, in a more general setting, the grade (a variant of the ``Gittins index'') plays a crucial role in control problems involving several Markov chains. Here we establish several conjectures of Dumitriu et al on the asymptotics of the grade in Euclidean latti…
Unlike classical simple random walks, one-dimensional random walks in random environments (RWRE) are known to have a wide array of potential limiting distributions. Under certain assumptions, however, it is known that CLT-like limiting distributions hold for the walk under both the quenched and averaged measures. We give upper bounds on the rates of convergence for the quenched central limit theorems for both the hitting time and position of the RWRE with polynomial rates of convergence that depend on the distribution on environments.
For a one-dimensional random walk in random scenery (RWRS) on Z, we determine its quenched weak limits by applying Strassen's functional law of the iterated logarithm. As a consequence, conditioned on the random scenery, the one-dimensional RWRS does not converge in law, in contrast with the multi-dimensional case.
Consider a random walk among random conductances on $\mathbb{Z}^d$ with $d\geq 2$. We study the quenched limit law under the usual diffusive scaling of the random walk conditioned to have its first coordinate positive. We show that the conditional limit law is the product of a Brownian meander and a $(d-1)$-dimensional Brownian motion.
We prove a quenched central limit theorem for balanced random walks in time dependent ergodic random environments which is not necessarily nearest-neigbhor. We assume that the environment satisfies appropriate ergodicity and ellipticity conditions. The proof is based on the use of a maximum principle for parabolic difference operators.
We study quenched distributions on random walks in a random potential on integer lattices of arbitrary dimension and with an arbitrary finite set of admissible steps. The potential can be unbounded and can depend on a few steps of the walk. Directed, undirected and stretched polymers, as well as random walk in random environment, are covered. The restriction needed is on the moment of the potential, in relation to the degree of mixing of the ergodic environment. We derive two variational formulas for the limiting quenched free energy and prove a process-level quenched large deviation principle…
In this note, we prove a quenched functional central limit theorem for a biased random walk on a supercritical Galton-Watson tree with leaves. This extends a result of Peres and Zeitouni (2008) where the case without leaves is considered. A conjecture of Ben Arous and Fribergh (2016) suggests an upper bound on the bias which we observe to be sharp.
We consider a model of open quantum random walk and together with a quantum trajectory approach we are able to examine a notion of hitting time. We see that many constructions, such as minimal solutions to hitting time problems, are variations of well-known classical probability results, but the density matrix degree of freedom on each site gives rise to systems which are seen to be nonclassical. As a more specific application we study the collection of walks induced by normal commuting contractions, for which the corresponding probability expressions are obtained. We examine quantum versions …
We prove an almost sure invariance principle for a random walker among i.i.d. conductances in $\Z^d$, $d\geq 2$. We assume conductances are bounded from above but we dot require they are bounded from below.
We prove the almost sure ('quenched') invariance principle for a random walker on an infinite Bernoulli percolation cluster in $\Z^d$ where $d$ is larger or equal than 2.
We discuss the quenched tail estimates for the random walk in random scenery. The random walk is the symmetric nearest neighbor walk and the random scenery is assumed to be independent and identically distributed, non-negative, and has a power law tail. We identify the long time aymptotics of the upper deviation probability of the random walk in quenched random scenery, depending on the tail of scenery distribution and the amount of the deviation. The result is in turn applied to the tail estimates for a random walk in random conductance which has a layered structure.
For birth-and-death processes, we show that every initial distribution is reproduced from the first hitting time distribution. The reproduction is done by applying to the distribution function a differential operator defined through the eigenfunction of the generator. Using the spectral theory for generalized second-order differential operators, we study asymmetric random walks.
We prove a quenched local central limit theorem for continuous-time random walks in $\mathbb Z^d, d\ge 2$, in a uniformly-elliptic time-dependent balanced random environment which is ergodic under space-time shifts. We also obtain Gaussian upper and lower bounds for quenched and (positive and negative) moment estimates of the transition probabilities and asymptotics of the discrete Green function.
It is well known that random walks in one dimensional random environment can exhibit subdiffusive behavior due to presence of traps. In this paper we show that the passage times of different traps are asymptotically independent exponential random variables with parameters forming, asymptotically, a Poisson process. This allows us to prove weak quenched limit theorems in the subdiffusive regime where the contribution of traps plays the dominating role.
We consider the simple random walk on the graph corresponding to a Penrose tiling. We prove that the path distribution of the walk converges weakly to that of a non-degenerate Brownian motion for almost every Penrose tiling with respect to the appropriate invariant measure on the set of tilings. Our tool for this is the corrector method.
Let $\{A, B, C\}$ be a partition of a sample space $Ω$. For a random walk $S_n = x + \sum_{j=1}^n X_j$ starting at $x \in A$, we find estimates for the Green's function $G_{A \cup B}(x,y)$ and the hitting time $E^x(T_C)$ for $x, y \in A \cup B$, with interest in the case where $C$ "separates" $A$ and $B$ in a sense (e.g. the probability of jumping from $A$ to $B$, or vice versa, before hitting $C$, is small).
We establish and generalise several bounds for various random walk quantities including the mixing time and the maximum hitting time. Unlike previous analyses, our derivations are based on rather intuitive notions of local expansion properties which allows us to capture the progress the random walk makes through $t$-step probabilities. We apply our framework to dynamically changing graphs, where the set of vertices is fixed while the set of edges changes in each round. For random walks on dynamic connected graphs for which the stationary distribution does not change over time, we show that the…
We make use of the Open Quantum Random Walk setting due to S. Attal, F. Petruccione, C. Sabot and I. Sinayskiy [J. Stat. Phys. (2012) 147:832-852] in order to discuss hitting times and a quantum version of the Mean Hitting Time Formula from classical probability theory. We study an open quantum notion of hitting probability on a finite collection of sites and with this we are able to describe the problem in terms of linear maps and its matrix representations. After setting an open quantum version of the fundamental matrix for ergodic Markov chains we are able to prove our main result and as co…
We consider simple random walks on Delaunay triangulations generated by point processes in $\mathbb{R}^d$. Under suitable assumptions on the point processes, we show that the random walk satisfies an almost sure (or quenched) invariance principle. This invariance principle holds for point processes which have clustering or repulsiveness properties including Poisson point processes, Mat{é}rn cluster and Mat{é}rn hardcore processes. The method relies on the decomposition of the process into a martingale part and a corrector which is proved to be negligible at the diffusive scale.
We consider an i.i.d. random environment with a strong form of transience on the two dimensional integer lattice. Namely, the walk always moves forward in the y-direction. We prove a functional CLT for the quenched expected position of the random walk indexed by its level crossing times. We begin with a variation of the Martingale Central Limit Theorem. The main part of the paper checks the conditions of the theorem for our problem.
We prove the quenched version of the central limit theorem for the displacement of a random walk in doubly stochastic random environment, under the $H_{-1}$-condition, with slightly stronger, $L^{2+\varepsilon}$ (rather than $L^2$) integrability condition on the stream tensor. On the way we extend Nash's moment bound to the non-reversible, divergence-free drift case.
We consider a random walk in a random potential on a square lattice of arbitrary dimension. The potential is a function of an ergodic environment and some steps of the walk. The potential can be unbounded, but it is subject to a moment assumption whose strictness is tied to the mixing of the environment, the best case being the i.i.d. environment. We prove that the infinite volume quenched point-to-point free energy exists and has a variational formula in terms of an entropy. We establish regularity properties of the point-to-point free energy, as a function of the potential and as a function …
We study a one-dimensional random walk among random conductances, with unbounded jumps. Assuming the ergodicity of the collection of conductances and a few other technical conditions (uniform ellipticity and polynomial bounds on the tails of the jumps) we prove a quenched conditional invariance principle for the random walk, under the condition that it remains positive until time $n$. As a corollary of this result, we study the effect of conditioning the random walk to exceed level $n$ before returning to 0 as $n\to \infty$.
We consider random walk on dynamical percolation on the discrete torus $\mathbb{Z}_n^d$. In previous work, mixing times of this process for $p<p_c(\mathbb{Z}^d)$ were obtained in the annealed setting where one averages over the dynamical percolation environment. Here we study exit times in the quenched setting, where we condition on a typical dynamical percolation environment. We obtain an upper bound for all $p$ which for $p<p_c$ matches the known lower bound.
We consider a bounded step size random walk in an ergodic random environment with some ellipticity, on an integer lattice of arbitrary dimension. We prove a level 3 large deviation principle, under almost every environment, with rate function related to a relative entropy.
In this paper, we are interested in some questions of Greven and den Hollander about the rate function $I\_η^q$ of quenched large deviations for random walk in random environment. By studying the hitting times of RWRE, we prove that in the recurrent case, $\lim\_{θ\to 0^+}(I\_η^q)''(θ)=+\infty$, which gives an affirmative answer to a conjecture of Greven and den Hollander. We also establish a comparison result between the rate function of quenched large deviations for a diffusion in a drifted Brownian potential, and the rate function for a drifted Brownian motion with the same speed.
