We give potential theoretic estimates for the probability that a set $A$ contains a double point of planar Brownian motion run for unit time. Unlike the probability for $A$ to intersect the range of a Markov process, this cannot be estimated by a capacity of the set $A$. Instead, we introduce the notion of a capacity with respect to two gauge functions simultaneously. We also give a polar decomposition of $A$ into a set that never intersects the set of Brownian double points and a set for which intersection with the set of Brownian double points is the same as intersection with the Brownian path.
We consider pairs of 3-dimensional Brownian paths, started at the origin and conditioned to have no intersections after time zero. We show that there exists a unique measure on pairs of paths that is invariant under this conditioning, while improving the previously known rate of convergence to stationarity.
Consider a system of $N$ non-intersecting Brownian bridges in $[0,1]$, and let $\mathcal M_N(p)$ be the maximal height attained by the top path in the interval $[0,p]$, $p\in[0,1]$. It is known that, under a suitable rescaling, the distribution of $\mathcal M_N(p)$ converges, as $N\to\infty$, to a one-parameter family of distributions interpolating between the Tracy-Widom distributions for the Gaussian Orthogonal and Unitary Ensembles (corresponding, respectively, to $p\to1$ and $p\to0$). It is also known that, for fixed $N$, $\mathcal M_N(1)$ is distributed as the top eigenvalue of a random m…
Consider n non-intersecting Brownian motions on $\mathbb{R}$, depending on time $t \in [0,1]$, with $m_i$ particles forced to leave from $a_i$ at time $t=0$, $1\leq i\leq q$, and $n_j$ particles forced to end up at $b_j$ at time $t=1$, $1\leq j\leq p$. For arbitrary $p$ and $q$, it is not known if the distribution of the positions of the non-intersecting Brownian particles at a given time $0<t<1$, is the same as the joint distribution of the eigenvalues of a matrix ensemble. This paper proves the existence, for general $p$ and $q$, of a partial differential equation (PDE) satisfied by the log …
We present a generalization of multiple orthogonal polynomials of type I and type II, which we call multiple orthogonal polynomials of mixed type. Some basic properties are formulated, and a Riemann-Hilbert problem for the multiple orthogonal polynomials of mixed type is given. We derive a Christoffel-Darboux formula for these polynomials using the solution of the Riemann-Hilbert problem. The main motivation for studying these polynomials comes from a model of non-intersecting one-dimensional Brownian motions with a given number of starting points and endpoints. The correlation kernel for the …
We consider n one-dimensional Brownian motions, such that n/2 Brownian motions start at time t=0 in the starting point a and end at time t=1 in the endpoint b and the other n/2 Brownian motions start at time t=0 at the point -a and end at time t=1 in the point -b, conditioned that the n Brownian paths do not intersect in the whole time interval (0,1). The correlation functions of the positions of the non-intersecting Brownian motions have a determinantal form with a kernel that is expressed in terms of multiple Hermite polynomials of mixed type. We analyze this kernel in the large n limit for …
We consider n non-intersecting Brownian motions with two fixed starting positions and two fixed ending positions in the large n limit. We show that in case of 'large separation' between the endpoints, the particles are asymptotically distributed in two separate groups, with no interaction between them, as one would intuitively expect. We give a rigorous proof using the Riemann-Hilbert formalism. In the case of 'critical separation' between the endpoints we are led to a model Riemann-Hilbert problem associated to the Hastings-McLeod solution of the Painleve II equation. We show that the Painlev…
We study a model of $n$ one-dimensional non-intersecting Brownian motions with two prescribed starting points at time $t=0$ and two prescribed ending points at time $t=1$ in a critical regime where the paths fill two tangent ellipses in the time-space plane as $n \to \infty$. The limiting mean density for the positions of the Brownian paths at the time of tangency consists of two touching semicircles, possibly of different sizes. We show that in an appropriate double scaling limit, there is a new familiy of limiting determinantal point processes with integrable correlation kernels that are exp…
We consider n non-intersecting Brownian motion paths with p prescribed starting positions at time t=0 and q prescribed ending positions at time t=1. The positions of the paths at any intermediate time are a determinantal point process, which in the case p=1 is equivalent to the eigenvalue distribution of a random matrix from the Gaussian unitary ensemble with external source. For general p and q, we show that if a temperature parameter is sufficiently small, then the distribution of the Brownian paths is characterized in the large n limit by a vector equilibrium problem with an interaction mat…
We show that the squared maximal height of the top path among $N$ non-intersecting Brownian bridges starting and ending at the origin is distributed as the top eigenvalue of a random matrix drawn from the Laguerre Orthogonal Ensemble. This result can be thought of as a discrete version of K. Johansson's result that the supremum of the Airy$_2$ process minus a parabola has the Tracy-Widom GOE distribution, and as such it provides an explanation for how this distribution arises in models belonging to the KPZ universality class with flat initial data. The result can be recast in terms of the prob…
We study $n$ non-intersecting Brownian motions, corresponding to the eigenvalues of an $n\times n$ Hermitian Brownian motion. At the boundary of their limit shape we find that only three universal processes can arise: the Pearcey process close to merging points, the Airy line ensemble at edges and a novel determinantal process describing the transition from the Pearcey process to the Airy line ensemble. The three cases are distinguished by a remarkably simple integral condition. Our results hold under very mild assumptions, in particular we do not require any kind of convergence of the initial…
In 1962, Dyson introduced dynamics in random matrix models, in particular into GUE (also for beta=1 and 4), by letting the entries evolve according to independent Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes. Dyson shows the spectral points of the matrix evolve according to non-intersecting Brownian motions. The present paper shows that the interlacing spectra of two consecutive principal minors form a Markov process (diffusion) as well. This diffusion consists of two sets of Dyson non-intersecting Brownian motions, with a specific interaction respecting the interlacing. This is revealed in the form of the ge…
We consider finite collections of $N$ non-intersecting Brownian paths on the line and on the half-line with both absorbing and reflecting boundary conditions (corresponding to Brownian excursions and reflected Brownian motions) and compute in each case the joint distribution of the maximal height of the top path and the location at which this maximum is attained. The resulting formulas are analogous to the ones obtained in [MFQR13] for the joint distribution of $\mathcal{M}={\rm max}_{x\in\mathbb{R}}\{\mathcal{A}_2(x)-x^2\}$ and $\mathcal{T}={\rm argmax}_{x\in\mathbb{R}}\{\mathcal{A}_2(x)-x^2\…
Consider $a$ particles performing simple, symmetric, non-intersecting random walks, starting at points $2(j-1)$, $1\le j\le a$ at time 0 and ending at $2(j-1)+c-b$ at time $b+c$. This can also be interpreted as a random rhombus tiling of an $abc$-hexagon, or as a random boxed planar partition confined to a rectangular box with side lengths $a$, $b$ and $c$. The positions of the particles at all times gives a determinantal point process with a correlation kernel given in terms of the associated Hahn polynomials. In a suitable scaling limit we obtain non-intersecting Brownian motions which can b…
Consider n non-intersecting particles on the real line (Dyson Brownian motions), all starting from the origin at time=0, and forced to return to x=0 at time=1. For large n, the average mean density of particles has its support, for each 0<t<1, within the interior of an ellipse. The Airy process is defined as the motion of these non-intersecting Brownian motions for large n, but viewed from an arbitrary point on the ellipse with an appropriate space-time rescaling. Assume now a finite number r of these particles are forced to a different target point. Does it affect the Brownian fluctuations al…
We study $n$ non-intersecting Brownian motions corresponding to initial configurations which have a vanishing density in the large $n$ limit at an interior point of the support. It is understood that the point of vanishing can propagate up to a critical time, and we investigate the nature of the microscopic space-time correlations near the critical point and critical time. We show that they are described either by the Pearcey process or by the Airy line ensemble, depending on whether a simple integral related to the initial configuration vanishes or not. Since the Airy line ensemble typically …
We study $N$ vicious Brownian bridges propagating from an initial configuration $\{a_1 < a_2 < \ldots< a_N \}$ at time $t=0$ to a final configuration $\{b_1 < b_2 < \ldots< b_N \}$ at time $t=t_f$, while staying non-intersecting for all $0\leq t \leq t_f$. We first show that this problem can be mapped to a non-intersecting Dyson's Brownian bridges with Dyson index $β=2$. For the latter we derive an exact effective Langevin equation that allows to generate very efficiently the vicious bridge configurations. In particular, for the flat-to-flat configuration in the large $N$ limit, where $a_i = b…
We consider the partition function $Z_{\ell}(\vec x,0\vert \vec y,t)$ of $\ell$ non-intersecting continuous directed polymers of length $t$ in dimension $1+1$, in a white noise environment, starting from positions $\vec x$ and terminating at positions $\vec y$. When $\ell=1$, it is well known that for fixed $x$, the field $\log Z_1(x,0\vert y,t)$ solves the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation and admits the Brownian motion as a stationary measure. In particular, as $t$ goes to infinity, $Z_1(x,0\vert y,t)/Z_1(x,0\vert 0,t) $ converges to the exponential of a Brownian motion $B(y)$. In this article, w…
A famous result of Orey and Taylor gives the Hausdorff dimension of the set of fast times, that is the set of points where linear Brownian motion moves faster than according to the law of iterated logarithm. In this paper we examine what happens to the set of fast times if a variable drift is added to linear Brownian motion. In particular, we will show that the Hausdorff dimension of the set of fast times cannot be decreased by adding a function to Brownian motion.
Consider non-intersecting Brownian motions on the line leaving from the origin and forced to two arbitrary points. Letting the number of Brownian particles tend to infinity, and upon rescaling, there is a point of bifurcation, where the support of the density of particles goes from one interval to two intervals. In this paper, we show that at that very point of bifurcation a cusp appears, near which the Brownian paths fluctuate like the Pearcey process. This is a universality result within this class of problems. Tracy and Widom obtained such a result in the symmetric case, when the two target…
Consider a system of particles moving independently as Brownian motions until two of them meet, when the colliding pair annihilates instantly. The construction of such a system of annihilating Brownian motions (aBMs) is straightforward as long as we start with a finite number of particles, but is more involved for infinitely many particles. In particular, if we let the set of starting points become increasingly dense in the real line it is not obvious whether the resulting systems of aBMs converge and what the possible limit points (entrance laws) are. In this paper, we show that aBMs arise as…
Consider non-intersecting Brownian motions on the real line, starting from the origin at t=0, with a number of particles forced to reach p distinct target points at time t=1. This work shows that the transition probability, that is the probability for the particles to pass through windows E_k at times t_k, satisfies, in a new set of variables, a non-linear PDE which can be expressed as a near-Wronskian; that is a determinant of a matrix of size p+1, with each row being a derivative of the previous, except for the last column. It is an interesting open question to understand those equations fro…
Discrete and continuous non-intersecting random processes have given rise to critical "infinite dimensional diffusions", like the Airy process, the Pearcey process and variations thereof. It has been known that domino tilings of very large Aztec diamonds lead macroscopically to a disordered region within an inscribed ellipse (arctic circle in the homogeneous case), and a regular brick-like region outside the ellipse. The fluctuations near the ellipse, appropriately magnified and away from the boundary of the Aztec diamond, form an Airy process, run with time tangential to the boundary. This pa…
An explicit Fredholm determinant formula is derived for the multipoint distribution of the height function of the totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP) with arbitrary right-finite initial condition. The method is by solving the biorthogonal ensemble/non-intersecting path representation found by [Sas05; BFPS07]. The resulting kernel involves transition probabilities of a random walk forced to hit a curve defined by the initial data. In the KPZ 1:2:3 scaling limit the formula leads in a transparent way to a Fredholm determinant formula, in terms of analogous kernels based on Browni…
Arratia, and later Tóth and Werner, constructed random processes that formally correspond to coalescing one-dimensional Brownian motions starting from every space-time point. We extend their work by constructing and characterizing what we call the {\em Brownian Web} as a random variable taking values in an appropriate (metric) space whose points are (compact) sets of paths. This leads to general convergence criteria and, in particular, to convergence in distribution of coalescing random walks in the scaling limit to the Brownian Web.
Let $D\subset R^d$ be a bounded domain and let $\mathcal P(D)$ denote the space of probability measures on $D$. Consider a Brownian motion in $D$ which is killed at the boundary and which, while alive, jumps instantaneously according to a spatially dependent exponential clock with intensity $γV$ to a new point, according to a distribution $μ\in\mathcal P(D)$. From its new position after the jump, the process repeats the above behavior independently of what has transpired previously. The generator of this process is an extension of the operator $-L_{γ,μ}$, defined by L_{γ,μ}u\equiv -\frac12Δu+γ…
Given $2n$ unit equilateral triangles, there are finitely many ways to glue each edge to a partner. We obtain a random sphere-homeomorphic surface by sampling uniformly from the gluings that produce a topological sphere. As $n$ tends to infinity, these random surfaces (appropriately scaled) converge in law. The limit is a "canonical" sphere-homeomorphic random surface, much the way Brownian motion is a canonical random path. Depending on how the surface space and convergence topology are specified, the limit is the Brownian sphere, the peanosphere, the pure Liouville quantum gravity sphere, or…
Given an n-dimensional stochastic process X driven by P-Brownian motions and Poisson random measures, we seek the probability measure Q, with minimal relative entropy to P, such that the Q-expectations of some terminal and running costs are constrained. We prove existence and uniqueness of the optimal probability measure, derive the explicit form of the measure change, and characterise the optimal drift and compensator adjustments under the optimal measure. We provide an analytical solution for Value-at-Risk (quantile) constraints, discuss how to perturb a Brownian motion to have arbitrary var…
