The article provides an explicit algebraic expression for the generating function of walks on graphs. Its proof is based on the scattering theory for the differential Laplace operator on non-compact graphs.
We investigate the integrability of the discrete non-linear equation governing the dependence on geodesic distance of planar graphs with inner vertices of even valences. This equation follows from a bijection between graphs and blossom trees and is expressed in terms of generating functions for random walks. We construct explicitly an infinite set of conserved quantities for this equation, also involving suitable combinations of random walk generating functions. The proof of their conservation, i.e. their eventual independence on the geodesic distance, relies on the connection between random w…
Beaton, Owczarek and Xu (2019) studied generating functions of Kreweras walks and of reverse Kreweras walks in the quarter plane, with interacting boundaries. They proved that for the reverse Kreweras step set, the generating function is always algebraic, and for the Kreweras step set, the generating function is always D-finite. However, apart from the particular case where the interactions are symmetric in $x$ and~$y$, they left open the question of whether the latter one is algebraic. Using computer algebra tools, we confirm their intuition that the generating function of Kreweras walks is n…
Consider a single walker on the slit plane, that is, the square grid Z^2 without its negative x-axis, who starts at the origin and takes his steps from a given set S. Mireille Bousquet-Melou conjectured that -- excluding pathological cases -- the generating function counting the number of possible walks is algebraic if and only if the walker cannot cross the negative x-axis without touching it. In this paper we prove a special case of her conjecture.
We refine necessary and sufficient conditions for the generating series of a weighted model of a quarter plane walk to be differentially algebraic. In addition, we give algorithms based on the theory of Mordell-Weil lattices, that, for each weighted model, yield polynomial conditions on the weights determining this property of the associated generating series.
Gessel walks are lattice walks in the quarter plane $\set N^2$ which start at the origin $(0,0)\in\set N^2$ and consist only of steps chosen from the set $\{\leftarrow,\swarrow,\nearrow,\to\}$. We prove that if $g(n;i,j)$ denotes the number of Gessel walks of length $n$ which end at the point $(i,j)\in\set N^2$, then the trivariate generating series $G(t;x,y)=\sum_{n,i,j\geq 0} g(n;i,j)x^i y^j t^n$ is an algebraic function.
Gessel's walks are the planar walks that move within the positive quadrant $\mathbb{Z}_{+}^{2}$ by unit steps in any of the following directions: West, North-East, East and South-West. In this paper, we find an explicit expression for the trivariate generating function counting the Gessel's walks with $k\geq 0$ steps, which start at $(0,0)$ and end at a given point $(i,j) \in \mathbb{Z}^2_+$.
In the present paper, we introduce a new approach, relying on the Galois theory of difference equations, to study the nature of the generating series of walks in the quarter plane. Using this approach, we are not only able to recover many of the recent results about these series, but also to go beyond them. For instance, we give for the first time hypertranscendency results, {\it i.e.}, we prove that certain of these generating series do not satisfy any nontrivial nonlinear algebraic differential equation with rational coefficients.
More than 15 years ago Guttmann and Vöge [J. Statist. Plann. Inference, {\bf 101}, 107 (2002)], introduced a model of friendly walkers. Since then it has remained unsolved. In this paper we provide the exact solution to a closely allied model, originally introduced by Tsuchiya and Katori [J. Phys. Soc. Japan {\bf 67}, 1655 (1988)], which essentially only differs in the boundary conditions. The exact solution is expressed in terms of the reciprocal of the generating function for vicious walkers which is a D-finite function. However, ratios of D-finite functions are inherently not D-finite and i…
We study nearest-neighbors walks on the two-dimensional square lattice, that is, models of walks on $\mathbb{Z}^2$ defined by a fixed step set that is a subset of the non-zero vectors with coordinates 0, 1 or $-1$. We concern ourselves with the enumeration of such walks starting at the origin and constrained to remain in the quarter plane $\mathbb{N}^2$, counted by their length and by the position of their ending point. Bousquet-Mélou and Mishna [Contemp. Math., pp. 1--39, Amer. Math. Soc., 2010] identified 19 models of walks that possess a D-finite generating function; linear differential equ…
Trying to enumerate all of the walks in a 2D lattice is a fun combinatorial problem and there are numerous applications, from polymers to sports. Computers provide a wonderful tool for analyzing these walks; we provide a Maple package for automatically describing generating functions of walks restricted to any step set in a 2D lattice. We always obtain a closed system of relations for generating functions of walks that are bounded, semi-bounded, or unbounded. For bounded walks, this leads to explicit rational solutions! For semi-bounded or unbounded walks, we may get lucky and obtain algebraic…
The question of classifying the nature of the generating functions of restricted lattice walks has enjoyed much attention in past years. We prove that a certain class of octant walks have a D-finite generating function using the theory of multivariate formal Laurent series.
We present two classes of random walks restricted to the quarter plane whose generating function is not holonomic. The non-holonomy is established using the iterated kernel method, a recent variant of the kernel method. This adds evidence to a recent conjecture on combinatorial properties of walks with holonomic generating functions. The method also yields an asymptotic expression for the number of walks of length n.
We study the nature of the generating series of some models of walks with small steps in the three quarter plane. More precisely, we restrict ourselves to the situation where the group is infinite, the kernel has genus one, and the step set is diagonally symmetric (i.e., with no steps in anti-diagonal directions). In that situation, after a transformation of the plane, we derive a quadrant-like functional equation. Among the four models of walks, we obtain, using difference Galois theory, that three of them have a differentially transcendental generating series, and one has a differentially al…
This work considers lattice walks restricted to the quarter plane, with steps taken from a set of cardinality three. We present a complete classification of the generating functions of these walks with respect to the classes algebraic, transcendental holonomic and non-holonomic. The principal results are a new algebraic class related to Kreweras' walks; two new non-holonomic classes; and enumerative data on some other classes. These results provide strong evidence for conjectures which use combinatorial criteria to classify the generating functions all nearest neighbour walks in the quarter pl…
We use Galois theory of difference equations to study the nature of the generating series of (weighted) walks in the quarter plane with genus zero kernel curve. Using this approach, we prove that the generating series do not satisfy any nontrivial (possibly nonlinear) algebraic differential equation with rational coefficients.
We provide a new derivation of the well-known generating function counting the number of walks on a regular tree that start and end at the same vertex, and more generally, a generating function for the number of walks that end at a vertex a distance i from the start vertex. These formulas seem to be very old, and go back, in an equivalent form, at least to Harry Kesten's work on symmetric random walks on groups from 1959, and in the present form to Brendan McKay (1983).
We present an easy proof of Polya's theorem on random walks: with the probability one a random walk on the two-dimensional lattice returns to the starting point.
We show connection between Dyck paths with peaks of bounded height and random walks. The correspondence between a certain class of random walks and such Dyck paths allows us to develop a probabilistic perspective on Chebyshev polynomials.
We consider the proportion of generalized visible lattice points in the plane visited by random walkers. Our work concerns the visible lattice points in random walks in three aspects: (1) generalized visibility along curves; (2) one random walker visible from multiple watchpoints; (3) simultaneous visibility of multiple random walkers. Moreover, we found new phenomenon in the case of multiple random walkers: for visibility along a large class of curves and for any number of random walkers, the proportion of steps at which all random walkers are visible simultaneously is almost surely larger th…
In the present paper we define conservative and semiconservative random walks in $\mathbb{Z}^d$ and study different families of random walks. The family of symmetric random walks is one of the families of conservative random walks, and simple (Pólya) random walks are their representatives. The classification of random walks given in the present paper enables us to provide a new approach to random walks in $\mathbb{Z}^d$ by reduction to birth-and-death processes. We construct nontrivial examples of recurrent random walks in $\mathbb{Z}^d$ for any $d\geq3$ and transient random walks in $\mathbb{…
We use a reflection argument, introduced by Gessel and Zeilberger, to count the number of k-step walks between two points which stay within a chamber of a Weyl group. We apply this technique to walks in the alcoves of the classical affine Weyl groups. In all cases, we get determinant formulas for the number of k-step walks. One important example is the region m>x_1>x_2>...>x_n>0, which is a rescaled alcove of the affine Weyl group C_n. If each coordinate is considered to be an independent particle, this models n non-colliding random walks on the interval (0,m). Another case models n non-collid…
We construct examples of a random walk with pairwise-independent steps which is almost-surely bounded, and for any $m$ and $k$ a random walk with $k$-wise independent steps which has no stationary distribution modulo $m$.
We analyze the covertime of a biased random walk on the random graph $G_{n,p}$. The walk is biased towards visiting vertices of low degree and this makes the covertime less than in the unbiased case