A complete representation of the Martin boundary of killed random walks on a half-space $\Z^{d-1}\times\N^*$ is obtained. In particular, it is proved that the corresponding Martin boundary is homemorphic to the half-sphere ${\cal S}^d_+ = \{z\in\R^{d-1}\times\R_+ : |z|=1\}$. The method is based on a combination of ratio limits theorems and large deviation techniques.
We investigate Martin boundary for a non-centered random walk on ${\mathbb Z}^d$ killed up on the time $τ_\vartheta$ of the first exit from a convex cone with a vertex at $0$. The approach combines large deviation estimates, the ratio limite theorem and the ladder height process. The results are applied to identify the Martin boundary for a random walk killed upon the first exit from a convex cone having $C^1$ boundary.
We compute the $t$-Martin boundary of two-dimensional small steps random walks killed at the boundary of the quarter plane. We further provide explicit expressions for the (generating functions of the) discrete $t$-harmonic functions. Our approach is uniform in $t$, and shows that there are three regimes for the Martin boundary.
The Martin compactification is investigated for a d-dimensional random walk which is killed when at least one of it's coordinates becomes zero or negative. The limits of the Martin kernel are represented in terms of the harmonic functions of the associated induced Markov chains. It is shown that any sequence of points x_n with lim_n |x_n| = \infty and lim_n x_n/|x_n|= q is fundamental in the Martin compactification if up to the multiplication by constants, the induced Markov chain corresponding to the direction q has a unique positive harmonic function. The full Martin compactification is obta…
A complete representation of the Martin boundary of killed random walks on the quadrant ${\mathbb{N}}^*\times{\mathbb{N}}^*$ is obtained. It is proved that the corresponding full Martin compactification of the quadrant ${\mathbb{N}}^*\times{\mathbb{N}}^*$ is homeomorphic to the closure of the set $\{w={z}/{(1+|z|)}:z\in{\mathbb{N}}^*\times{\mathbb{N}}^*\}$ in ${\mathbb{R}}^2$. The method is based on a ratio limit theorem for local processes and large deviation techniques.
We give an alternative proof of a result by N. Gantert, Y. Hu and Z. Shi on the asymptotic behavior of the survival probability of the branching random walk killed below a linear boundary, in the special case of deterministic binary branching and bounded random walk steps. Connections with the Brunet-Derrida theory of stochastic fronts are discussed.
We consider the random walks killed at the boundary of the quarter plane, with homogeneous non-zero jump probabilities to the eight nearest neighbors and drift zero in the interior, and which admit a positive harmonic polynomial of degree three. For these processes, we find the asymptotic of the Green functions along all infinite paths of states, and from this we deduce that the Martin compactification is the one-point compactification.
Consider a branching random walk on the real line with a killing barrier at zero: starting from a nonnegative point, particles reproduce and move independently, but are killed when they touch the negative half-line. The population of the killed branching random walk dies out almost surely in both critical and subcritical cases, where by subcritical case we mean that the rightmost particle of the branching random walk without killing has a negative speed, and by critical case, when this speed is zero. We investigate the total progeny of the killed branching random walk and give their precise ta…
In this paper we consider an irreducible random walk on the integer lattice $\mathbb{Z}$ that is in the domain of normal attraction of a strictly stable process with index $α\in (1, 2)$ and obtain the asymptotic form of the distribution of the hitting time of the origin and that of the transition probability for the walk killed when it hits a finite set. The asymptotic forms obtained are valid uniformly in the natural domain of the space and time variables.
We consider killed planar random walks on isoradial graphs. Contrary to the lattice case, isoradial graphs are not translation invariant, do not admit any group structure and are spatially non-homogeneous. Despite these crucial differences, we compute the asymptotics of the Martin kernel, deduce the Martin boundary and show that it is minimal. Similar results on the grid $\mathbb Z^d$ are derived in a celebrated work of Ney and Spitzer.
We prove the existence of uncountably many positive harmonic functions for random walks on the euclidean lattice with non-zero drift, killed when leaving two dimensional convex cones with vertex in 0. Our proof is an adaption of the proof for the positive quadrant from [Ignatiouk-Robert, Loree]. We also make the natural conjecture about the Martin boundary for general convex cones in two dimensions. This is still an open problem and here we only indicate where the proof technique for the positive quadrant breaks down.
We consider a branching random walk on $\mathbb{R}$ with a killing barrier at zero. At criticality, the process becomes eventually extinct, and the total progeny $Z$ is therefore finite. We show that the tail distribution of $Z$ displays a typical behaviour in $(n\ln^2(n))^{-1}$, which confirms the prediction of Addario-Berry and Broutin.
We consider a branching random walk for which the maximum position of a particle in the n'th generation, M_n, has zero speed on the linear scale: M_n/n --> 0 as n --> infinity. We further remove ("kill") any particle whose displacement is negative, together with its entire descendence. The size $Z$ of the set of un-killed particles is almost surely finite. In this paper, we confirm a conjecture of Aldous that Exp[Z] < infinity while Exp[Z log Z]=infinity. The proofs rely on precise large deviations estimates and ballot theorem-style results for the sample paths of random walks.
We study asymptotic behavior, for large time $n$, of the transition probability of a two-dimensional random walk killed when entering into a non-empty finite subset $A$. We show that it behaves like $4 \tilde u_A(x) \tilde u_{-A}(-y) (\lg n)^{-2} p^n(y- x)$ for large $n$, uniformly in the parabolic regime $|x|\vee |y| =O(\sqrt n)$, where $p^n(y-x)$ is the transition kernel of the random walk (without killing) and $\tilde u_A$ is the unique harmonic function in the 'exterior of $A$' satisfying the boundary condition $\tilde u_A(x) \sim \lg |x|$ at infinity.
In this note we first consider local times of random walks killed at leaving positive half-axis. We prove that the distribution of the properly rescaled local time at point $N$ conditioned on being positive converges towards an exponential distribution. The proof is based on known results for conditioned random walks, which allow to determine the asymptotic behaviour of moments of local times. Using this information we also show that the field of local times of a reflected random walk converges in the sense of finite dimensional distributions. This is in the spirit of the seminal result by Kni…
Consider a discrete-time one-dimensional supercritical branching random walk. We study the probability that there exists an infinite ray in the branching random walk that always lies above the line of slope $γ-ε$, where $γ$ denotes the asymptotic speed of the right-most position in the branching random walk. Under mild general assumptions upon the distribution of the branching random walk, we prove that when $ε\to 0$, the probability in question decays like $\exp\{- {β+ o(1)\over ε^{1/2}}\}$, where $β$ is a positive constant depending on the distribution of the branching random walk. In the sp…
For a random walk on the integer lattice $\mathbb{Z}$ that is attracted to a strictly stable process with index $α\in (1, 2)$ we obtain the asymptotic form of the transition probability for the walk killed when it hits a finite set. The asymptotic forms obtained are valid uniformly in a natural range of the space and time variables. The situation is relatively simple when the limit stable process has jumps in both positive and negative directions; in the other case when the jumps are one sided rather interesting matters are involved and detailed analyses are necessitated.
This paper studies the asymptotic behavior of the Green function of a multidimensional random walk killed when leaving a convex cone with smooth boundary. Our results imply uniqueness, up to a multiplicative factor, of the positive harmonic function for the killed random walk.
We study the transition probability, say $p_A^n(x,y)$, of a one-dimensional random walk on the integer lattice killed when entering into a non-empty finite set $A$. The random walk is assumed to be irreducible and have zero mean and a finite variance $σ^2$. We derive the asymptotic form of $p_A^n(x, y)$ for large $n$ valid uniformly in the regime characterized by the conditions $|x|\vee |y| =O(\sqrt n)$ and $|x|\wedge |y|= o(\sqrt n)$, in which $p^A_t({\bf x},{\bf y})$ behaves for large $n$ like $[g_A^{+}(x)\hat g_{A}^{\,+}(y) + g_A^-(x)\hat g_{A}^{\,-}(y)] (σ^{2}/2n) p^n(y-x)$. Here $p^n(y-x)…
We investigate harmonic functions and the convergence of the sequence of ratios $(P_x(τ_\vartheta {>} n)/P_e(τ_\vartheta {>} n))$ for a random walk on a countable group killed up on the time $τ_\vartheta$ of the first exit from some semi-group with an identity element $e$. Several results of classical renewal theory for one dimensional random walk killed at the first exit from the positive half-line are extended to a multi-dimensional setting. For this purpose, an analogue of the ladder height process and the corresponding renewal function $V$ are introduced. The results are applied to multidi…
Martin boundaries and integral representations of positive functions which are harmonic in a bounded domain $D$ with respect to Brownian motion are well understood. Unlike the Brownian case, there are two different kinds of harmonicity with respect to a discontinuous symmetric stable process. One kind are functions harmonic in $D$ with respect to the whole process $X$, and the other are functions harmonic in $D$ with respect to the process $X^D$ killed upon leaving $D$. In this paper we show that for bounded Lipschitz domains, the Martin boundary with respect to the killed stable process $X^D$…
We consider a family of random walks killed at the boundary of the Weyl chamber of the dual of $\rm{Sp}(4)$, which in addition satisfies the following property: for any $n\geq 3$, there is in this family a walk associated with a reflection group of order $2n$. Moreover, the case $n=4$ corresponds to a process which appears naturally by studying quantum random walks on the dual of $\rm{Sp}(4)$. For all the processes belonging to this family, we find the exact asymptotic of the Green functions along all infinite paths of states as well as that of the absorption probabilities along the boundaries…
The Martin boundary associated with the simple random walk on an example of partially oriented lattice is shown to be trivial by computing fine estimates of the Green kernel.
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 functional limit theorem.
In this paper, martingales related to simple random walks and their maximum process are investigated. First, a sufficient condition under which a function with three arguments, time, the random walk, and its maximum process becomes a martingale is presented, and as an application, an alternative way of deriving the Kennedy martingale is provided. Then, a complete characterization of a function with two arguments, the random walk and its maximum, being a martingale is presented. This martingale can be regarded as a discrete version of the Azéma--Yor martingale. As applications of discrete Azéma…
The t-Martin boundary of a random walk on a half-space with reflected boundary conditions is identified. It is shown in particular that the t-Martin boundary of such a random walk is not stable in the following sense : for different values of t, the t-Martin compactifications are not homeomorphic to each other.
We consider controlled random walks that are martingales with uniformly bounded increments and nontrivial jump probabilities and show that such walks can be constructed so that P(S_n^u=0) decays at polynomial rate n^{-α} where α>0 can be arbitrarily small. We also show, by means of a general delocalization lemma for martingales, which is of independent interest, that slower than polynomial decay is not possible.
In this note, we study the Martin boundary of the simple random walk on an example of directed graph. More precisely, the Martin boundary is shown to be trivial, i.e. there is no non-constant positive harmonic functions. The proof involves fine estimates of the Green function which are summarized in this note.
We extend the notion of the associated random walk and the Wald martingale in random walks where the increments are independent and identically distributed to the more general case of stationary ergodic increments. Examples are given where the increments are Markovian or Gaussian, and an application in queueing is considered.
We consider a one-dimensional simple random walk surviving among a field of static soft traps : each time it meets a trap the walk is killed with probability 1--e --$β$ , where $β$ is a positive and fixed parameter. The positions of the traps are sampled independently from the walk and according to a renewal process. The increments between consecutive traps, or gaps, are assumed to have a power-law decaying tail with exponent $γ$ > 0. We prove convergence in law for the properly rescaled logarithm of the quenched survival probability as time goes to infinity. The normalization exponent is $γ$/…
Suppose that $(X,Y,Z)$ is a random walk in $\mathbb{Z}^3$ that moves in the following way: on the first visit to a vertex only $Z$ changes by $\pm 1$ equally likely, while on later visits to the same vertex $(X,Y)$ performs a two-dimensional random walk step. We show that this walk is transient thus answering a question of Benjamini, Kozma and Schapira. One important ingredient of the proof is a dispersion result for martingales.
In a seminal paper Biggins and Kyprianou \cite{BKy04} proved the existence of a non degenerate limit for the {\it Derivative martingale} of the branching random walk. As shown in \cite{Aid11} and \cite{Mad11}, this is an object of central importance in the study of the extremes of the branching random walk. In this paper we investigate the tail distribution of the limit of the {\it Derivative Martingale} by mean of the study of the global minimum of the branching random walk. This new approach leads us to extend the results of \cite{Gui90} and \cite{Bur09} under slighter assumptions.
Consider a real-valued branching random walk in the boundary case. Using the techniques developed by Aïdékon and Shi [5], we give two integral tests which describe respectively the lower limits for the minimal position and the upper limits for the associated additive martingale.
Biggins [Uniform convergence of martingales in the branching random walk. {\em Ann. Probab.}, 20(1):137--151, 1992] proved local uniform convergence of additive martingales in $d$-dimensional supercritical branching random walks at complex parameters $λ$ from an open set $Λ\subseteq \mathbb{C}^d$. We investigate the martingales corresponding to parameters from the boundary $\partial Λ$ of $Λ$. The boundary can be decomposed into several parts. There may be a part of the boundary, on which the martingales do not exist, on other parts it exists, but diverges or vanishes in the limit. In the rema…
We consider multidimensional discrete valued random walks with nonzero drift killed when leaving general cones of the euclidian space. We find the asymptotics for the exit time from the cone and study weak convergence of the process conditioned on not leaving the cone. We get quasistationarity of its limiting distribution. Finally we construct a version of the random walk conditioned to never leave the cone.
We consider a branching random walk on the line. Biggins and Kyprianou [6] proved that, in the boundary case, the associated derivative martingale converges almost surly to a finite nonnegative limit, whose law serves as a fixed point of a smoothing transformation (Mandelbrot's cascade). In the present paper, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for the non-triviality of this limit and establish a Kesten-Stigum-like result.
Let $W_n, n\in\mn_{0}$ be an intrinsic martingale with almost sure limit $W$ in a supercritical branching random walk. We provide criteria for the $L_p$-convergence of the series $\sum_{n\ge 0} e^{an}(W-W_n)$ for $p>1$ and $a>0$. The result may be viewed as a statement about the exponential rate of convergence of $\me |W-W_n|^p$ to zero.
We introduce a family of two-dimensional reflected random walks in the positive quadrant and study their Martin boundary. While the minimal boundary is systematically equal to a union of two points, the full Martin boundary exhibits an instability phenomenon, in the following sense: if some parameter associated to the model is rational (resp.\ non-rational), then the Martin boundary is countable, homeomorphic to $\mathbb Z\cup\{\pm\infty\}$ (resp.\ uncountable, homeomorphic to $\mathbb R\cup\{\pm\infty\}$). Such instability phenomena are very rare in the literature. Along the way of proving th…
Let $(W_n(θ))_{n\in\mathbb N_0}$ be the Biggins martingale associated with a supercritical branching random walk and denote by $W_\infty(θ)$ its limit. Assuming essentially that the martingale $(W_n(2θ))_{n\in\mathbb N_0}$ is uniformly integrable and that $\text{Var} W_1(θ)$ is finite, we prove a functional central limit theorem for the tail process $(W_\infty(θ) - W_{n+r}(θ))_{r\in\mathbb N_0}$ and a law of the iterated logarithm for $W_\infty(θ)-W_n(θ)$, as $n\to\infty$.
Let $(Y_n)$ be a sequence of i.i.d. real valued random variables. Reflected random walk $(X_n)$ is defined recursively by $X_0=x \ge 0$, $X_{n+1} = |X_n - Y_{n+1}|$. In this note, we study recurrence of this process, extending a previous criterion. This is obtained by determining an invariant measure of the embedded process of reflections.
The complete representation of the Martin compactification for reflected random walks on a half-space $\Z^d\times\N$ is obtained. It is shown that the full Martin compactification is in general not homeomorphic to the ``radial'' compactification obtained by Ney and Spitzer for the homogeneous random walks in $\Z^d$ : convergence of a sequence of points $z_n\in\Z^{d-1}\times\N$ to a point of on the Martin boundary does not imply convergence of the sequence $z_n/|z_n|$ on the unit sphere $S^d$. Our approach relies on the large deviation properties of the scaled processes and uses Pascal's method…
For a random walk killed at leaving a cone we suggest two new constructions of a positive harmonic function. These constructions allow one to remove a quite strong extendability assumption, which has been imposed in our previous paper (Denisov and Wachtel, 2015, Random walks in cones). As a consequence, all the limit results from that paper remain true for cones which are either convex or star-like and $C^2$.
We consider a branching random walk on $\mathbb{R}$ with a stationary and ergodic environment $ξ=(ξ_n)$ indexed by time $n\in\mathbb{N}$. Let $Z_n$ be the counting measure of particles of generation $n$ and $\tilde Z_n(t)=\int e^{tx}Z_n(dx)$ be its Laplace transform. We show the $L^p$ convergence rate and the uniform convergence of the martingale $\tilde Z_n(t)/\mathbb E[\tilde Z_n(t)|ξ]$, and establish a moderate deviation principle for the measures $Z_n$.
We work under the A\"ıdékon-Chen conditions which ensure that the derivative martingale in a supercritical branching random walk on the line converges almost surely to a nondegenerate nonnegative random variable that we denote by $Z$. It is shown that $\mathbb{E} Z\mathbf{1}_{\{Z\le x\}}=\log x+o(\log x)$ as $x\to\infty$. Also, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions under which $\mathbb{E} Z\mathbf{1}_{\{Z\le x\}}=\log x+{\rm const}+o(1)$ as $x\to\infty$. This more precise asymptotics is a key tool for proving distributional limit theorems which quantify the rate of convergence of the …
Given a probability measure on a finitely generated group, its Martin boundary is a natural way to compactify the group using the Green function of the corresponding random walk. For finitely supported measures in hyperbolic groups, it is known since the work of Ancona and Gou{ë}zel-Lalley that the Martin boundary coincides with the geometric boundary. The goal of this paper is to weaken the finite support assumption. We first show that, in any non-amenable group, there exist probability measures with exponential tails giving rise to pathological Martin boundaries. Then, for probability measur…
We provide sufficient conditions which ensure that the intrinsic martingale in the supercritical branching random walk converges exponentially fast to its limit. The case of Galton-Watson processes is particularly included so that our results can be seen as a generalization of a result given in the classical treatise by Asmussen and Hering. As an auxiliary tool, we prove ultimate versions of two results concerning the exponential renewal measures which may be interesting on its own and which correct, generalize and simplify some earlier works.
Consider the random walk $S_n=ξ_1+...+ξ_n$ with independent and identically distributed increments and negative mean $\mathbf Eξ=-m<0$. Let $M=\sup_{0\le i} S_i$ be the supremum of the random walk. In this note we present derivation of asymptotics for $\mathbf P(M>x), x\to\infty$ for long-tailed distributions. This derivation is based on the martingale arguments and does not require any prior knowledge of the theory of long-tailed distributions. In addition the same approach allows to obtain asymptotics for $\mathbf P(M_τ>x)$, where $M_τ=\max_{0\le i<τ}S_i$ and $τ=\min\{n\ge 1: S_n\le 0 \}$.