Asymptotics of lattice walks via analytic combinatorics in several variables

We consider the enumeration of walks on the two dimensional non-negative integer lattice with short steps. Up to isomorphism there are 79 unique two dimensional models to consider, and previous work in this area has used the kernel method, along with a rigorous computer algebra approach, to show that 23 of the 79 models admit D-finite generating functions. In 2009, Bostan and Kauers used Pad\'e-Hermite approximants to guess differential equations which these 23 generating functions satisfy, in the process guessing asymptotics of their coefficient sequences. In this article we provide, for the first time, a complete rigorous verification of these guesses. Our technique is to use the kernel method to express 19 of the 23 generating functions as diagonals of tri-variate rational functions and apply the methods of analytic combinatorics in several variables (the remaining 4 models have algebraic generating functions and can thus be handled by univariate techniques). This approach also shows the link between combinatorial properties of the models and features of its asymptotics such as asymptotic and polynomial growth factors. In addition, we give expressions for the number of walks returning to the x-axis, the y-axis, and the origin, proving recently conjectured asymptotics of Bostan, Chyzak, van Hoeij, Kauers, and Pech.Comment: 10 pages, 3 tables, as accepted to proceedings of FPSAC 2016 (without conference formatting

On the denominators of the Taylor coefficients of G-functions

Let $\sum\_{n=0}^\infty a\_n z^n\in \overline{\mathbb Q}[[z]]$ be a $G$-function, and, for any $n\ge0$, let $\delta\_n\ge 1$ denote the least integer such that $\delta\_n a\_0, \delta\_n a\_1, ..., \delta\_n a\_n$ are all algebraic integers. By definition of a $G$-function, there exists some constant $c\ge 1$ such that $\delta\_n\le c^{n+1}$ for all $n\ge 0$. In practice, it is observed that $\delta\_n$ always divides $D\_{bn}^{s} C^{n+1}$ where $D\_n=lcm\{1,2, ..., n\}$, $b, C$ are positive integers and $s\ge 0$ is an integer. We prove that this observation holds for any $G$-function provided the following conjecture is assumed: {\em Let $\mathbb{K}$ be a number field, and $L\in \mathbb{K}[z,\frac{d }{d z}]$ be a $G$-operator; then the generic radius of solvability $R\_v(L)$ is equal to 1, for all finite places $v$ of $\mathbb{K}$ except a finite number.} The proof makes use of very precise estimates in the theory of $p$-adic differential equations, in particular the Christol-Dwork Theorem. Our result becomes unconditional when $L$ is a geometric differential operator, a special type of $G$-operators for which the conjecture is known to be true. The famous Bombieri-Dwork Conjecture asserts that any $G$-operator is of geometric type, hence it implies the above conjecture

Walks in the Quarter Plane with Multiple Steps

We extend the classification of nearest neighbour walks in the quarter plane to models in which multiplicities are attached to each direction in the step set. Our study leads to a small number of infinite families that completely characterize all the models whose associated group is D4, D6, or D8. These families cover all the models with multiplicites 0, 1, 2, or 3, which were experimentally found to be D-finite --- with three noteworthy exceptions.Comment: 12 pages, FPSAC 2015 submissio

Automatic Classification of Restricted Lattice Walks

We propose an experimental mathematics approach leading to the computer-driven discovery of various structural properties of general counting functions coming from enumeration of walks

Analytic approach for reflected Brownian motion in the quadrant

Random walks in the quarter plane are an important object both of combinatorics and probability theory. Of particular interest for their study, there is an analytic approach initiated by Fayolle, Iasnogorodski and Malyshev, and further developed by the last two authors of this note. The outcomes of this method are explicit expressions for the generating functions of interest, asymptotic analysis of their coefficients, etc. Although there is an important literature on reflected Brownian motion in the quarter plane (the continuous counterpart of quadrant random walks), an analogue of the analytic approach has not been fully developed to that context. The aim of this note is twofold: it is first an extended abstract of two recent articles of the authors of this paper, which propose such an approach; we further compare various aspects of the discrete and continuous analytic approaches.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures. Extended abstract of the papers arXiv:1602.03054 and arXiv:1604.02918, to appear in Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Probabilistic, Combinatorial and Asymptotic Methods for the Analysis of Algorithms, Krakow, Poland, 4-8 July 2016 arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1602.0305