arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Gregory F. Lawler.
Some possible definitions for the natural parametrization of SLE (Schramm-Loewner evolution) paths are proposed in terms of various limits. One of the definitions is used to give a new proof of the Hausdorff dimension of SLE paths.
We define multiple chordal SLEs in a simply connected domain by considering a natural configurational measure on paths. We show how to construct these measures so that they are conformally covariant and satisfy certain boundary perturbation and Markov properties, as well as a cascade relation. As an example of our construction, we derive the scaling limit of Fomin's identity in the case of two paths directly; that is, we prove that the probability that an SLE(2) and a Brownian excursion do not intersect can be given in terms of the determinant of the excursion hitting matrix. Finally, we define the lambda-SAW, a one-parameter family of measures on self-avoiding walks on Z^2.
We prove an estimate for the probability that a simple random walk in a simply connected subset A of Z^2 starting on the boundary exits A at another specified boundary point. The estimates are uniform over all domains of a given inradius. We apply these estimates to prove a conjecture of S. Fomin in 2001 concerning a relationship between crossing probabilities of loop-erased random walk and Brownian motion.
The Brownian loop soup introduced in Lawler and Werner (2004) is a Poissonian realization from a sigma-finite measure on unrooted loops. This measure satisfies both conformal invariance and a restriction property. In this paper, we define a random walk loop soup and show that it converges to the Brownian loop soup. In fact, we give a strong approximation result making use of the strong approximation result of Komlós, Major, and Tusnády. To make the paper self-contained, we include a proof of the approximation result that we need.
Let $n = b_1 + ... + b_k = b_1' + \cdot + b_k'$ be a pair of compositions of $n$ into $k$ positive parts. We say this pair is {\em irreducible} if there is no positive $j < k$ for which $b_1 + ... b_j = b_1' + ... b_j'$. The probability that a random pair of compositions of $n$ is irreducible is shown to be asymptotic to $8/n$. This problem leads to a problem in probability theory. Two players move along a game board by rolling a die, and we ask when the two players will first coincide. A natural extension is to show that the probability of a first return to the origin at time $n$ for any mean-zero variance $V$ random walk is asymptotic to $\sqrt{V/(2 π)} n^{-3/2}$. We prove this via two methods, one analytic and one probabilistic.
An estimate of Beurling states that if K is a curve from 0 to the unit circle in the complex plane, then the probability that a Brownian motion starting at -eps reaches the unit circle without hitting the curve is bounded above by c eps^{1/2}. This estimate is very useful in analysis of boundary behavior of conformal maps, especially for connected but rough boundaries. The corresponding estimate for simple random walk was first proved by Kesten. In this note we extend this estimate to random walks with zero mean, and finite (3+delta) moment.
We define a natural conformally invariant measure on unrooted Brownian loops in the plane and study some of its properties. We relate this measure to a measure on loops rooted at a boundary point of a domain and show how this relation gives a way to ``chronologically add Brownian loops'' to simple curves in the plane.
We prove that the scaling limit of loop-erased random walk in a simply connected domain $D$ is equal to the radial SLE(2) path in $D$. In particular, the limit exists and is conformally invariant. It follows that the scaling limit of the uniform spanning tree in a Jordan domain exists and is conformally invariant. Assuming that the boundary of the domain is a $C^1$ simple closed curve, the same method is applied to show that the scaling limit of the uniform spanning tree Peano curve, where the tree is wired along a proper arc $A$ on the boundary, is the chordal SLE(8) path in the closure of $D$ joining the endpoints of $A$. A by-product of this result is that SLE(8) is almost surely generated by a continuous path. The results and proofs are not restricted to a particular choice of lattice.
A planar self-avoiding walk (SAW) is a nearest neighbor random walk path in the square lattice with no self-intersection. A planar self-avoiding polygon (SAP) is a loop with no self-intersection. In this paper we present conjectures for the scaling limit of the uniform measures on these objects. The conjectures are based on recent results on the stochastic Loewner evolution and non-disconnecting Brownian motions. New heuristic derivations are given for the critical exponents for SAWs and SAPs.
The probability that the cluster of the origin in critical site percolation on the triangular grid has diameter larger than $R$ is proved to decay like $R^{-5/48}$ as $R\to\infty$.
We derive the exact value of intersection exponents between planar Brownian motions or random walks, confirming predictions from theoretical physics by Duplantier and Kwon. Let B and B' be independent Brownian motions (or simple random walks) in the plane, started from distinct points. We prove that the probability that the paths B[0,t] and B'[0,t] do not intersect decays like t^{-5/8}. More precisely, there is a constant c>0 such that if |B(0) - B'(0)| =1, for all t \ge 1, c^{-1} t^{-5/8} \le ¶[ B[0,t] \cap B'[0,t] = \emptyset ] \le c t^{-5/8}. One consequence is that the set of cut-points of B[0,1] has Hausdorff dimension 3/4 almost surely. The values of other exponents are also derived. Using an analyticity result, which is to be established in a forthcoming paper, it follows that the Hausdorff dimension of the outer boundary of B[0,1] is 4/3, as conjectured by Mandelbrot. The proofs are based on a study of SLE_6 (stochastic Loewner evolution with parameter 6), a recently discovered process which conjecturally is the scaling limit of critical percolation cluster boundaries. The exponents of SLE_6 are calculated, and they agree with the physicists' predictions for the exponents for critical percolation and self-avoiding walks. From the SLE_6 exponents the Brownian intersection exponents are then derived.
This paper proves conjectures originating in the physics literature regarding the intersection exponents of Brownian motion in a half-plane. For instance, suppose that B and B' are two independent planar Brownian motions started from distinct points in a half-plane H. Then, as $t \to \infty$, $$ P [ B[0,t] \cap B'[0,t] = \emptyset, B[0,t] \cup B'[0,t] \subset H ] = t^{-5/3 + o(1)}.$$ The proofs use ideas and tools developped by the authors in previous papers. We prove that one of the stochastic Loewner evolution processes (with parameter 6, that we will call SLE_6 and which has been conjectured to correspond to the scaling limit of critical percolation cluster boundaries) satisfies the ``conformal restriction property''. We establish a generalization of Cardy's formula (for crossings of a rectangle by a percolation cluster) for SLE_6, from which the exact values of intersection exponents for SLE_6 followd. Since this process satisfies the conformal restriction property, the Brownian intersection exponents can be determined from the SLE_6 intersection exponents. Results about intersection exponents in the whole plane appear in subsequent papers.
In a series of recent preprints, we have proven that with probability one the Hausdorff dimension on the outer boundary of planar Brownian motion is 4/3, confirming a conjecture by Mandelbrot. It is also shown that the Hausdorff dimension of the set of cut points is a.s. 3/4. The present paper is an expository outline of the arguments involved in the proof of these and related results.
We show that the intersection exponents for planar Brownian motions are analytic. More precisely, let $B$ and $B'$ be independent planar Brownian motions started from distinct points, and define the exponent $ξ(1, λ)$ by $$ E[P[B[0,t] \cap B'[0,t] = \emptyset | B[0,t]]^λ] \approx t^{-ξ(1, λ)/2}, t \to \infty. $$ Then the mapping $λ\mapsto ξ(1, λ)$ is real analytic in $(0,\infty)$. The same result is proved for the exponents $ξ(k, λ)$ where $k$ is a positive integer. In combination with the determination of $ξ(k, λ)$ for integer $k \ge 1$ and real $λ\ge 1$ in our previous papers, this gives the value of $ξ(k, λ)$ also for $λ\in (0,1)$ and the disconnection exponents $\lim_{λ\searrow 0} ξ(k, λ)$. In particular, it shows that $\lim_{λ\searrow 0} ξ(2, λ) = 2/3$ and concludes the proof of the following result that had been conjectured by Mandelbrot: the Hausdorff dimension of the outer boundary of $B[0,1]$ is 4/3 almost surely.
This paper determines values of intersection exponents between packs of planar Brownian motions in the half-plane and in the plane that were not derived in our first two papers. For instance, it is proven that the exponent $ξ(3,3)$ describing the asymptotic decay of the probability of non-intersection between two packs of three independent planar Brownian motions each is $(73-2 \sqrt {73}) / 12$. More generally, the values of $ξ(w_1, >..., w_k)$ and $\tx (w_1', ..., w_k')$ are determined for all $ k \ge 2$, $w_1, w_2\ge 1$, $w_3, ...,w_k\in[0,\infty)$ and all $w_1',...,w_k'\in[0,\infty)$. The proof relies on the results derived in our first two papers and applies the same general methods. We first find the two-sided exponents for the stochastic Loewner evolution processes in a half-plane, from which the Brownian intersection exponents are determined via a universality argument.
The growth exponent $α$ for loop-erased or Laplacian random walk on the integer lattice is defined by saying that the expected time to reach the sphere of radius $n$ is of order $n^α$. We prove that in two dimensions, the growth exponent is strictly greater than one. The proof uses a known estimate on the third moment of the escape probability and an improvement on the discrete Beurling projection theorem.