Counting statistics: a Feynman-Kac perspective

By building upon a Feynman-Kac formalism, we assess the distribution of the number of hits in a given region for a broad class of discrete-time random walks with scattering and absorption. We derive the evolution equation for the generating function of the number of hits, and complete our analysis by examining the moments of the distribution, and their relation to the walker equilibrium density. Some significant applications are discussed in detail: in particular, we revisit the gambler's ruin problem and generalize to random walks with absorption the arcsine law for the number of hits on the half-line.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Rigorous results on the local equilibrium kinetics of a protein folding model

A local equilibrium approach for the kinetics of a simplified protein folding model, whose equilibrium thermodynamics is exactly solvable, was developed in [M. Zamparo and A. Pelizzola, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 068106 (2006)]. Important properties of this approach are (i) the free energy decreases with time, (ii) the exact equilibrium is recovered in the infinite time limit, (iii) the equilibration rate is an upper bound of the exact one and (iv) computational complexity is polynomial in the number of variables. Moreover, (v) this method is equivalent to another approximate approach to the kinetics: the path probability method. In this paper we give detailed rigorous proofs for the above results.Comment: 25 pages, RevTeX 4, to be published in JSTA

Inhomogeneous quantum groups IGL_{q,r}(N): Universal enveloping algebra and differential calculus

A review of the multiparametric linear quantum group GL_qr(N), its real forms, its dual algebra U(gl_qr(N)) and its bicovariant differential calculus is given in the first part of the paper. We then construct the (multiparametric) linear inhomogeneous quantum group IGL_qr(N) as a projection from GL_qr(N+1), or equivalently, as a quotient of GL_qr(N+1) with respect to a suitable Hopf algebra ideal. A bicovariant differential calculus on IGL_qr(N) is explicitly obtained as a projection from the one on GL_qr(N+1). Our procedure unifies in a single structure the quantum plane coordinates and the q-group matrix elements T^a_b, and allows to deduce without effort the differential calculus on the q-plane IGL_qr(N) / GL_qr(N). The general theory is illustrated on the example of IGL_qr(2).Comment: 38 page