On Recent Progress for the Stochastic Navier Stokes Equations

We give an overview of the ideas central to some recent developments in the ergodic theory of the stochastically forced Navier Stokes equations and other dissipative stochastic partial differential equations. Since our desire is to make the core ideas clear, we will mostly work with a specific example: the stochastically forced Navier Stokes equations. To further clarify ideas, we will also examine in detail a toy problem. A few general theorems are given. Spatial regularity, ergodicity, exponential mixing, coupling for a SPDE, and hypoellipticity are all discussed.Comment: Corrected version of Journees Equations aux derivees partielles paper(June 2003). Original at http://www.math.sciences.univ-nantes.fr/edpa/2003

Causal sets and conservation laws in tests of Lorentz symmetry

Many of the most important astrophysical tests of Lorentz symmetry also assume that energy-momentum of the observed particles is exactly conserved. In the causal set approach to quantum gravity a particular kind of Lorentz symmetry holds but energy-momentum conservation may be violated. We show that incorrectly assuming exact conservation can give rise to a spurious signal of Lorentz symmetry violation for a causal set. However, the size of this spurious signal is much smaller than can be currently detected and hence astrophysical Lorentz symmetry tests as currently performed are safe from causal set induced violations of energy-momentum conservation.Comment: 8 pages, matches version published in PR

Malliavin Calculus for Infinite-Dimensional Systems with Additive Noise

We consider an infinite-dimensional dynamical system with polynomial nonlinearity and additive noise given by a finite number of Wiener processes. By studying how randomness is spread by the system we develop a counterpart of Hormander's classical theory in this setting. We study the distributions of finite-dimensional projections of the solutions and give conditions that provide existence and smoothness of densities of these distributions with respect to the Lebesgue measure. We also apply our results to concrete SPDEs such as Stochastic Reaction Diffusion Equation and Stochastic 2D Navier--Stokes System.Comment: finial corrections before sending off proof

Scaling limits of a model for selection at two scales

The dynamics of a population undergoing selection is a central topic in evolutionary biology. This question is particularly intriguing in the case where selective forces act in opposing directions at two population scales. For example, a fast-replicating virus strain outcompetes slower-replicating strains at the within-host scale. However, if the fast-replicating strain causes host morbidity and is less frequently transmitted, it can be outcompeted by slower-replicating strains at the between-host scale. Here we consider a stochastic ball-and-urn process which models this type of phenomenon. We prove the weak convergence of this process under two natural scalings. The first scaling leads to a deterministic nonlinear integro-partial differential equation on the interval $[0,1]$ with dependence on a single parameter, $\lambda$. We show that the fixed points of this differential equation are Beta distributions and that their stability depends on $\lambda$ and the behavior of the initial data around $1$. The second scaling leads to a measure-valued Fleming-Viot process, an infinite dimensional stochastic process that is frequently associated with a population genetics.Comment: 23 pages, 1 figur