arXiv subjects

Michael McAuley

Publications and source records attributed to Michael McAuley.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Limit theorems for the number of sign and level-set clusters of the Gaussian free field

We study the limiting fluctuations of the number of sign and level-set clusters of the Gaussian free field on $\mathbb{Z}^d$, $d \ge 3$, that are contained in a large domain. In dimension $d \ge 4$ we prove that the fluctuations are Gaussian at all non-critical levels, while in dimension $d=3$ we show that fluctuations may be Gaussian or non-Gaussian depending on the level. We also show that the sign clusters experience a form of Berry cancellation in all dimensions, that is, the fluctuations of the sign cluster count are suppressed compared to generic levels. Our proof is based on controlling the Wiener-Itô chaos expansion of the cluster count using percolation theoretic inputs; to our knowledge this is the first time that chaos expansion techniques have been applied to analyse a non-local functional of a strongly correlated Gaussian field.

math.PR↗

arXiv2026

Interactive Mars Image Content-Based Search with Interpretable Machine Learning

The NASA Planetary Data System (PDS) hosts millions of images of planets, moons, and other bodies collected throughout many missions. The ever-expanding nature of data and user engagement demands an interpretable content classification system to support scientific discovery and individual curiosity. In this paper, we leverage a prototype-based architecture to enable users to understand and validate the evidence used by a classifier trained on images from the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover mission. In addition to providing explanations, we investigate the diversity and correctness of evidence used by the content-based classifier. The work presented in this paper will be deployed on the PDS Image Atlas, replacing its non-interpretable counterpart.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2026

Limit theorems for non-local functionals of smooth Gaussian fields via quasi-association

Many classical objects of study related to the geometry/topology of smooth Gaussian fields (e.g., the volume, surface area or Euler characteristic of excursion sets) have a `locality' property which is crucial to their analysis. More recently, progress has been made in studying `non-local' quantities of such fields (e.g., the component/nodal count or the Betti numbers of excursion sets). In this work, we develop a new approach to analysing non-local functionals based on a form of topological quasi-association. We use this to establish a variety of limit theorems for approximately additive functionals on growing domains, including concentration bounds, a quantitative central limit theorem and the law of the iterated logarithm.

math.PR↗

arXiv2026

Three central limit theorems for the unbounded excursion component of a Gaussian field

For a smooth, stationary Gaussian field $f$ on Euclidean space with fast correlation decay, there is a critical level $\ell_c$ such that the excursion set $\{f\geq\ell\}$ contains a (unique) unbounded component if and only if $\ell<\ell_c$. We prove central limit theorems for the volume, surface area and Euler characteristic of this unbounded component restricted to a growing box. For planar fields, the results hold at all supercritical levels (i.e. all $\ell<\ell_c$). In higher dimensions the results hold at all sufficiently low levels (all $\ell<-\ell_c<\ell_c$) but could be extended to all supercritical levels by proving the decay of truncated connection probabilities. Our proof is based on the martingale central limit theorem.

math.PR↗

arXiv2026

Conformal welding of independent Gaussian multiplicative chaos measures

We solve the classical conformal welding problem for a composition of two random homeomorphisms generated by independent Gaussian multiplicative chaos measures with small parameter values. In other words, given two such measures on the boundary of the unit disk we show that there exist conformal maps to complementary domains on the Riemann sphere such that the pushforward of the normalised measures agree on their common boundary.

math.PR↗

arXiv2025

A covariance formula for the number of excursion set components of Gaussian fields and applications

We derive a covariance formula for the number of excursion or level set components of a smooth stationary Gaussian field on $\mathbb{R}^d$ contained in compact domains. We also present two applications of this formula: (1) for fields whose correlations are integrable we prove that the variance of the component count in large domains is of volume order and give an expression for the leading constant, and (2) for fields with slower decay of correlation we give an upper bound on the variance which is of optimal order if correlations are regularly varying, and improves on best-known bounds if correlations are oscillating (e.g.\ monochromatic random waves).

math.PR↗

arXiv2025

A central limit theorem for the number of excursion set components of Gaussian fields

For a smooth stationary Gaussian field on $\mathbb{R}^d$ and level $\ell \in \mathbb{R}$, we consider the number of connected components of the excursion set $\{f \ge \ell\}$ (or level set $\{f = \ell\}$) contained in large domains. The mean of this quantity is known to scale like the volume of the domain under general assumptions on the field. We prove that, assuming sufficient decay of correlations (e.g. the Bargmann-Fock field), a central limit theorem holds with volume-order scaling. Previously such a result had only been established for `additive' geometric functionals of the excursion/level sets (e.g. the volume or Euler characteristic) using Hermite expansions. Our approach, based on a martingale analysis, is more robust and can be generalised to a wider class of topological functionals. A major ingredient in the proof is a third moment bound on critical points, which is of independent interest.

math.PR↗

arXiv2020

Fluctuations of the number of excursion sets of planar Gaussian fields

For a smooth, stationary, planar Gaussian field, we consider the number of connected components of its excursion set (or level set) contained in a large square of area $R^2$. The mean number of components is known to be of order $R^2$ for generic fields and all levels. We show that for certain fields with positive spectral density near the origin (including the Bargmann-Fock field), and for certain levels $\ell$, these random variables have fluctuations of order at least $R$, and hence variance of order at least $R^2$. In particular, this holds for excursion sets when $\ell$ is in some neighbourhood of zero, and it holds for excursion/level sets when $\ell$ is sufficiently large. We prove stronger fluctuation lower bounds of order $R^α$, $α\in [1,2]$, in the case that the spectral density has a singularity at the origin. Finally, we show that the number of excursion/level sets for the Random Plane Wave at certain levels has fluctuations of order at least $R^{3/2}$, and hence variance of order at least~$R^3$. We expect that these bounds are of the correct order, at least for generic levels.

math.PR↗

arXiv2020

Smoothness and monotonicity of the excursion set density of planar Gaussian fields

Nazarov and Sodin have shown that the number of connected components of the nodal set of a planar Gaussian field in a ball of radius $R$, normalised by area, converges to a constant as $R\to \infty $. This has been generalised to excursion/level sets at arbitrary levels, implying the existence of functionals $c_{ES}(\ell )$ and $c_{LS}(\ell )$ that encode the density of excursion/level set components at the level $\ell $. We prove that these functionals are continuously differentiable for a wide class of fields. This follows from a more general result, which derives differentiability of the functionals from the decay of the probability of `four-arm events' for the field conditioned to have a saddle point at the origin. For some fields, including the important special cases of the Random Plane Wave and the Bargmann-Fock field, we also derive stochastic monotonicity of the conditioned field, which allows us to deduce regions on which $c_{ES}(\ell )$ and $c_{LS}(\ell )$ are monotone.

math.PR↗

arXiv2020

On the number of excursion sets of planar Gaussian fields

The Nazarov-Sodin constant describes the average number of nodal set components of Gaussian fields on large scales. We generalise this to a functional describing the corresponding number of level set components for arbitrary levels. Using results from Morse theory, we express this functional as an integral over the level densities of different types of critical points, and as a result deduce the absolute continuity of the functional as the level varies. We further give upper and lower bounds showing that the functional is at least bimodal for certain isotropic fields, including the important special case of the random plane wave.

math.PR↗