Asymptotic direction of random walks in Dirichlet environment

In this paper we generalize the result of directional transience from [SabotTournier10]. This enables us, by means of [Simenhaus07], [ZernerMerkl01] and [Bouchet12] to conclude that, on Z^d (for any dimension d), random walks in i.i.d. Dirichlet environment, or equivalently oriented-edge reinforced random walks, have almost-surely an asymptotic direction equal to the direction of the initial drift, unless this drift is zero. In addition, we identify the exact value or distribution of certain probabilities, answering and generalizing a conjecture of [SaTo10].Comment: This version includes a second part, proving and generalizing identities conjectured in a previous paper by C.Sabot and the autho

Biased random walks on random graphs

These notes cover one of the topics programmed for the St Petersburg School in Probability and Statistical Physics of June 2012. The aim is to review recent mathematical developments in the field of random walks in random environment. Our main focus will be on directionally transient and reversible random walks on different types of underlying graph structures, such as $\mathbb{Z}$, trees and $\mathbb{Z}^d$ for $d\geq 2$.Comment: Survey based one of the topics programmed for the St Petersburg School in Probability and Statistical Physics of June 2012. 64 pages, 16 figure

Rocking Subdiffusive Ratchets: Origin, Optimization and Efficiency

We study origin, parameter optimization, and thermodynamic efficiency of isothermal rocking ratchets based on fractional subdiffusion within a generalized non-Markovian Langevin equation approach. A corresponding multi-dimensional Markovian embedding dynamics is realized using a set of auxiliary Brownian particles elastically coupled to the central Brownian particle (see video on the journal web site). We show that anomalous subdiffusive transport emerges due to an interplay of nonlinear response and viscoelastic effects for fractional Brownian motion in periodic potentials with broken space-inversion symmetry and driven by a time-periodic field. The anomalous transport becomes optimal for a subthreshold driving when the driving period matches a characteristic time scale of interwell transitions. It can also be optimized by varying temperature, amplitude of periodic potential and driving strength. The useful work done against a load shows a parabolic dependence on the load strength. It grows sublinearly with time and the corresponding thermodynamic efficiency decays algebraically in time because the energy supplied by the driving field scales with time linearly. However, it compares well with the efficiency of normal diffusion rocking ratchets on an appreciably long time scale

Explicit formulae in probability and in statistical physics

We consider two aspects of Marc Yor's work that have had an impact in statistical physics: firstly, his results on the windings of planar Brownian motion and their implications for the study of polymers; secondly, his theory of exponential functionals of Levy processes and its connections with disordered systems. Particular emphasis is placed on techniques leading to explicit calculations.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures. To appear in Seminaire de Probabilites, Special Issue Marc Yo

Anomalous 1D fluctuations of a simple 2D random walk in a large deviation regime

The following question is the subject of our work: could a two-dimensional random path pushed by some constraints to an improbable "large deviation regime", possess extreme statistics with one-dimensional Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) fluctuations? The answer is positive, though non-universal, since the fluctuations depend on the underlying geometry. We consider in details two examples of 2D systems for which imposed external constraints force the underlying stationary stochastic process to stay in an atypical regime with anomalous statistics. The first example deals with the fluctuations of a stretched 2D random walk above a semicircle or a triangle. In the second example we consider a 2D biased random walk along a channel with forbidden voids of circular and triangular shapes. In both cases we are interested in the dependence of a typical span \left \sim t^{\gamma} of the trajectory of $t$ steps above the top of the semicircle or the triangle. We show that $\gamma = \frac{1}{3}$, i.e. \left shares the KPZ statistics for the semicircle, while $\gamma=0$ for the triangle. We propose heuristic derivations of scaling exponents $\gamma$ for different geometries, justify them by explicit analytic computations and compare with numeric simulations. For practical purposes, our results demonstrate that the geometry of voids in a channel might have a crucial impact on the width of the boundary layer and, thus, on the heat transfer in the channel.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, some parts of the paper are rewritte

Zero-one law for directional transience of one-dimensional random walks in dynamic random environments

We prove the trichotomy between transience to the right, transience to the left and recurrence of one-dimensional nearest-neighbour random walks in dynamic random environments under fairly general assumptions, namely: stationarity under space-time translations, ergodicity under spatial translations, and a mild ellipticity condition. In particular, the result applies to general uniformly elliptic models and also to a large class of non-uniformly elliptic cases that are i.i.d. in space and Markovian in time. An immediate consequence is the recurrence of models that are symmetric with respect to reflection through the origin.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure. Added Corollary 2.