Free Perpetuities I: Existence, Subordination and Tail Asymptotics

Abstract

We study the free analogue of the classical affine fixed-point (or perpetuity) equation \[ \mathbb{X} \stackrel{d}{=} \mathbb{A}^{1/2}\mathbb{X}\,\mathbb{A}^{1/2} + \mathbb{B}, \] where $\mathbb{X}$ is assumed to be $*$-free from the pair $(\mathbb{A},\mathbb{B})$, with $\mathbb{A}\ge 0$ and $\mathbb{B}=\mathbb{B}^*$. Our analysis covers both the subcritical regime, where $\tau(\mathbb{A})<1$, and the critical case $\tau(\mathbb{A})=1$, in which the solution $\mathbb{X}$ is necessarily unbounded. When $\tau(\mathbb{A})=1$, we prove that the series defining $\mathbb{X}$ converges bilaterally almost uniformly (and almost uniformly under additional tail assumptions), while the perpetuity fails to have higher moments even if all moments of $\mathbb{A}$ and $\mathbb{B}$ exist. Our approach relies on a detailed study of the asymptotic behavior of moments under free multiplicative convolution, which reveals a markedly different behavior from the classical setting. By employing subordination techniques for non-commutative random variables, we derive precise asymptotic estimates for the tail of the distributions of $\mathbb{X}$ in both one-sided and symmetric cases. Interestingly, in the critical case, the free perpetuity exhibits a power-law tail behavior that mirrors the phenomenon observed in the celebrated Kesten's theorem.