We study the isoperimetric and spectral profiles of certain families of finitely generated groups defined via actions on labelled Schreier graphs and simple {\em gluing} of such. In one of our simplest constructions---the {\em pocket-extension} of a group $G$---this leads to the study of certain finitely generated subgroups of the full permutation group $\mathbb S(G\cup \{*\})$. Some sharp estimates are obtained while many challenging questions remain.
This paper studies anchored expansion, a non-uniform version of the strong isoperimetric inequality. We show that every graph with i-anchored expansion contains a subgraph with isoperimetric (Cheeger) constant at least i. We prove a conjecture by Benjamini, Lyons and Schramm (1999) that in such graphs the random walk escapes with a positive lim inf speed. We also show that anchored expansion implies a heat-kernel decay bound of order exp(-c n^1/3).
Let $G$ be a finitely generated group equipped with a finite symmetric generating set and the associated word length function $|\cdot |$. We study the behavior of the probability of return for random walks driven by symmetric measures $μ$ that are such that $\sum ρ(|x|)μ(x)<\infty$ for increasing regularly varying or slowly varying functions $ρ$, for instance, $s\mapsto (1+s)^α$, $α\in (0,2]$, or $s\mapsto (1+\log (1+s))^ε$, $ε>0$. For this purpose we develop new relations between the isoperimetric profiles associated with different symmetric probability measures. These techniques allow us to …
We study the isoperimetric profiles of certain families of finitely generated groups defined via marked Schreier graphs and permutation wreath products. The groups we study are among the "simplest" examples within a much larger class of groups, all defined via marked Schreier graphs and/or action on rooted trees, which includes such examples as the long range group, Grigorchuck group and the basillica group. The highly non-linear structure of these groups make them both interesting and difficult to study. Because of the relative simplicity of the Schreier graphs that define the groups we study…
We consider the random walk on a simple point process on $\Bbb{R}^d$, $d\geq2$, whose jump rates decay exponentially in the $α$-power of jump length. The case $α=1$ corresponds to the phonon-induced variable-range hopping in disordered solids in the regime of strong Anderson localization. Under mild assumptions on the point process, we show, for $α\in(0,d)$, that the random walk confined to a cubic box of side $L$ has a.s. Cheeger constant of order at least $L^{-1}$ and mixing time of order $L^2$. For the Poisson point process, we prove that at $α=d$, there is a transition from diffusive to su…
This article extends the results of Fang & Zeitouni (2012a) on branching random walks (BRWs) with Gaussian increments in time inhomogeneous environments. We treat the case where the variance of the increments changes a finite number of times at different scales in [0,1] under a slight restriction. We find the asymptotics of the maximum up to an OP(1) error and show how the profile of the variance influences the leading order and the logarithmic correction term. A more general result was independently obtained by Mallein (2015b) when the law of the increments is not necessarily Gaussian. Howeve…
A classical random walk $(S_t, t\in\mathbb{N})$ is defined by $S_t:=\displaystyle\sum_{n=0}^t X_n$, where $(X_n)$ are i.i.d. When the increments $(X_n)_{n\in\mathbb{N}}$ are a one-order Markov chain, a short memory is introduced in the dynamics of $(S_t)$. This so-called "persistent" random walk is nolonger Markovian and, under suitable conditions, the rescaled process converges towards the integrated telegraph noise (ITN) as the time-scale and space-scale parameters tend to zero (see Herrmann and Vallois, 2010; Tapiero-Vallois, Tapiero-Vallois2}). The ITN process is effectively non-Markovian …
We introduce the discrete affine group of a regular tree as a finitely generated subgroup of the affine group. We describe the Poisson boundary of random walks on it as a space of configurations. We compute isoperimetric profile and Hilbert compression exponent of the group. We also discuss metric relationship with some lamplighter groups and lamplighter graphs.
Let $(X_n)_{n\geq 0}$ be a reversible random walk on a graph $G$ satisfying an anchored isoperimetric inequality. We give upper bounds for exit time (and occupation time in transient case) by X of any set which contains the root. As an application, we consider random environments of $\Z^d$.
We prove quenched invariance principle for simple random walk on the unique infinite percolation cluster for a general class of percolation models on Z^d, d>=2, with long-range correlations introduced in arXiv:1212.2885, solving one of the open problems from there. This gives new results for random interlacements in dimension d>=3 at every level, as well as for the vacant set of random interlacements and the level sets of the Gaussian free field in the regime of the so-called local uniqueness (which is believed to coincide with the whole supercritical regime). An essential ingredient of our pr…
We consider dynamical percolation on the $d$-dimensional discrete torus of side length $n$, $\mathbb{Z}_n^d$, where each edge refreshes its status at rate $μ=μ_n\le 1/2$ to be open with probability $p$. We study random walk on the torus, where the walker moves at rate $1/(2d)$ along each open edge. In earlier work of two of the authors with A. Stauffer, it was shown that in the subcritical case $p<p_c(\mathbb{Z}^d)$, the (annealed) mixing time of the walk is $Θ(n^2/μ)$, and it was conjectured that in the supercritical case $p>p_c(\mathbb{Z}^d)$, the mixing time is $Θ(n^2+1/μ)$; here the implie…
We show that for all p>p_c(\Z^d) percolation parameters, the probability that the cluster of the origin is finite but has at least t vertices at distance one from the infinite cluster is exponentially small in t. We use this to give a short proof of the strongest version of the important fact that the isoperimetric profile of the infinite cluster basically coincides with the profile of the original lattice. This implies, e.g., that simple random walk on the largest cluster of a finite box [-n,n]^d with high probability has L^\infty-mixing time Θ(n^2), and that the heat kernel (return probabili…
The rotor-router model is a deterministic analogue of random walk invented by Jim Propp. It can be used to define a deterministic aggregation model analogous to internal diffusion limited aggregation. We prove an isoperimetric inequality for the exit time of simple random walk from a finite region in Z^d, and use this to prove that the shape of the rotor-router aggregation model in Z^d, suitably rescaled, converges to a Euclidean ball in R^d.
In this article, we consider random walk on the infinite cluster of bond percolation on $\Z^d (d \geq 2)$. We show that the Laplace transformation of the number of visited points $N\_n$, has a behaviour as the random walk was on $\Z^d$. More precisely, for all $0<α<1$, we proved that there exist constants $C\_i$ and $C\_s$ such that for all infinite cluster that contains the origin, we have: $$ e^{-C\_i n^{\frac{d}{d+2}}} \leq \E\_0^ω (α^{N\_n}) \leq e^{-C\_sn^{\frac{d}{d+2}}}.$$ Our approach is based on finding an isoperimetric inequalities on the infinite cluster, lifted on a wreath product …
We give a solution to the inverse problem (given a function, find a corresponding group) for large classes of speed, entropy, isoperimetric profile, return probability and $L_p$-compression functions of finitely generated groups of exponential volume growth. For smaller classes, we give solutions among solvable groups. As corollaries, we prove a recent conjecture of Amir on joint evaluation of speed and entropy exponents and we obtain a new proof of the existence of uncountably many pairwise non-quasi-isometric solvable groups, originally due to Cornulier and Tessera. We also obtain a formula …
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 show that on a Cayley graph of a nonamenable group, almost surely the infinite clusters of Bernoulli percolation are transient for simple random walk, that simple random walk on these clusters has positive speed, and that these clusters admit bounded harmonic functions. A principal new finding on which these results are based is that such clusters admit invariant random subgraphs with positive isoperimetric constant. We also show that percolation clusters in any amenable Cayley graph almost surely admit no nonconstant harmonic Dirichlet functions. Conversely, on a Cayley graph admitting non…
The vanishing of reduced $\ell^2$-cohomology for amenable groups can be traced to the work of Cheeger & Gromov. The subject matter here is reduced $\ell^p$-cohomology for $p \in ]1,\infty[$, particularly its vanishing. Results showing its triviality are obtained, for example: when $p \in ]1,2]$ and $G$ is amenable; when $p \in ]1,\infty[$ and $G$ is Liouville (in particular, of intermediate growth). This is done by answering a question of Pansu assuming the graph satisfies an isoperimetric profile. Namely, the triviality of the reduced $\ell^p$-cohomology is equivalent to the absence of non-co…
We prove that random walks on Thompson's group $F$ driven by strictly non-degenerate finitely supported probability measures $μ$ have a non-trivial Poisson boundary. The proof consists in an explicit construction of two different non-trivial $μ$-boundaries. Both of them are defined in terms of the Schreier graph $Γ$ on the dyadic-rational orbit of the canonical action of $F$ on the unit interval (actually, we consider a natural embedding of $F$ into the group $PLF({\mathbb R})$ of piecewise linear homeomorphisms of the real line, and realize $Γ$ on the dyadic-rational orbit in ${\mathbb R}$). …
We consider a finite horizon stochastic optimal control problem for nearest-neighbor random walk $\{X_i\}$ on the set of integers. The cost function is the expectation of exponential of the path sum of a random stationary and ergodic bounded potential plus $θX_n$. The random walk policies are measurable with respect to the random potential, and are adapted, with their drifts uniformly bounded in magnitude by a parameter $δ\in[0,1]$. Under natural conditions on the potential, we prove that the normalized logarithm of the optimal cost function converges. The proof is constructive in the sense th…
The main aim of the present set of notes is to give new, short and essentially self-contained proofs of some classical, as well as more recent, results about random walks on groups. For instance, we shall see that the drift characterization of Liouville groups, due to Kaimanovich-Vershik and Karlsson-Ledrappier (and to Varopoulos in some important special cases) admits a very short and quite elementary proof. Furthermore, we give a new, and rather short proof of (a weak version of) an observation of Kaimanovich (as well as a small strengthening thereof) that the Poisson boundary of any symmetr…
Let $W$ be a finite Weyl group and ${\hat{W}}$ be the corresponding affine Weyl group. We show that a large element in ${\hat{W}}$, randomly generated by (reduced) multiplication by simple generators, almost surely has one of $|W|$-specific shapes. Equivalently, a reduced random walk in the regions of the affine Coxeter arrangement asymptotically approaches one of $|W|$-many directions. The coordinates of this direction, together with the probabilities of each direction can be calculated via a Markov chain on $W$. Our results, applied to type $\tilde{A}_{n-1}$, show that a large random $n$-cor…
