Brownian motion and Random Walk above Quenched Random Wall

We study the persistence exponent for the first passage time of a random walk below the trajectory of another random walk. More precisely, let $\{B_n\}$ and $\{W_n\}$ be two centered, weakly dependent random walks. We establish that $\mathbb{P}(\forall_{n\leq N} B_n \geq W_n|W) = N^{-\gamma + o(1)}$ for a non-random $\gamma\geq 1/2$. In the classical setting, $W_n \equiv 0$, it is well-known that $\gamma = 1/2$. We prove that for any non-trivial $W$ one has $\gamma>1/2$ and the exponent $\gamma$ depends only on $\text{Var}(B_1)/\text{Var}(W_1)$. Our result holds also in the continuous setting, when $B$ and $W$ are independent and possibly perturbed Brownian motions or Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes. In the latter case the probability decays at exponential rate.Comment: To appear in Ann. Inst. Henri Poincar\'e Probab. Sta

U-statistics of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck branching particle system

We consider a branching particle system consisting of particles moving according to the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process in \Rd and undergoing a binary, supercritical branching with a constant rate $\lambda>0$. This system is known to fulfil a law of large numbers (under exponential scaling). Recently the question of the corresponding central limit theorem has been addressed. It turns out that the normalization and form of the limit in the CLT fall into three qualitatively different regimes, depending on the relation between the branching intensity and the parameters of the Orstein-Uhlenbeck process. In the present paper we extend those results to $U$-statistics of the system proving a law of large numbers and a central limit theorem.Comment: References update. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1007.171

A note on the discrete Gaussian Free Field with disordered pinning on Z^d, d\geq 2

We study the discrete massless Gaussian Free Field on $\Z^d$, $d\geq2$, in the presence of a disordered square-well potential supported on a finite strip around zero. The disorder is introduced by reward/penalty interaction coefficients, which are given by i.i.d. random variables. Under minimal assumptions on the law of the environment, we prove that the quenched free energy associated to this model exists in $\R^+$, is deterministic, and strictly smaller than the annealed free energy whenever the latter is strictly positive.Comment: 17 page

The random interchange process on the hypercube

We prove the occurrence of a phase transition accompanied by the emergence of cycles of diverging lengths in the random interchange process on the hypercube.Comment: 8 page