237 research outputs found
Semi-Static Hedging Based on a Generalized Reflection Principle on a Multi Dimensional Brownian Motion
On a multi-assets Black-Scholes economy, we introduce a class of barrier
options. In this model we apply a generalized reflection principle in a context
of the finite reflection group acting on a Euclidean space to give a valuation
formula and the semi-static hedge.Comment: Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, online firs
Cauchy's infinitesimals, his sum theorem, and foundational paradigms
Cauchy's sum theorem is a prototype of what is today a basic result on the
convergence of a series of functions in undergraduate analysis. We seek to
interpret Cauchy's proof, and discuss the related epistemological questions
involved in comparing distinct interpretive paradigms. Cauchy's proof is often
interpreted in the modern framework of a Weierstrassian paradigm. We analyze
Cauchy's proof closely and show that it finds closer proxies in a different
modern framework.
Keywords: Cauchy's infinitesimal; sum theorem; quantifier alternation;
uniform convergence; foundational paradigms.Comment: 42 pages; to appear in Foundations of Scienc
Noncolliding Squared Bessel Processes
We consider a particle system of the squared Bessel processes with index conditioned never to collide with each other, in which if
the origin is assumed to be reflecting. When the number of particles is finite,
we prove for any fixed initial configuration that this noncolliding diffusion
process is determinantal in the sense that any multitime correlation function
is given by a determinant with a continuous kernel called the correlation
kernel. When the number of particles is infinite, we give sufficient conditions
for initial configurations so that the system is well defined. There the
process with an infinite number of particles is determinantal and the
correlation kernel is expressed using an entire function represented by the
Weierstrass canonical product, whose zeros on the positive part of the real
axis are given by the particle-positions in the initial configuration. From the
class of infinite-particle initial configurations satisfying our conditions, we
report one example in detail, which is a fixed configuration such that every
point of the square of positive zero of the Bessel function is
occupied by one particle. The process starting from this initial configuration
shows a relaxation phenomenon converging to the stationary process, which is
determinantal with the extended Bessel kernel, in the long-term limit.Comment: v3: LaTeX2e, 26 pages, no figure, corrections made for publication in
J. Stat. Phy
Symmetry of matrix-valued stochastic processes and noncolliding diffusion particle systems
As an extension of the theory of Dyson's Brownian motion models for the
standard Gaussian random-matrix ensembles, we report a systematic study of
hermitian matrix-valued processes and their eigenvalue processes associated
with the chiral and nonstandard random-matrix ensembles. In addition to the
noncolliding Brownian motions, we introduce a one-parameter family of
temporally homogeneous noncolliding systems of the Bessel processes and a
two-parameter family of temporally inhomogeneous noncolliding systems of Yor's
generalized meanders and show that all of the ten classes of eigenvalue
statistics in the Altland-Zirnbauer classification are realized as particle
distributions in the special cases of these diffusion particle systems. As a
corollary of each equivalence in distribution of a temporally inhomogeneous
eigenvalue process and a noncolliding diffusion process, a stochastic-calculus
proof of a version of the Harish-Chandra (Itzykson-Zuber) formula of integral
over unitary group is established.Comment: LaTeX, 27 pages, 4 figures, v3: Minor corrections made for
publication in J. Math. Phy
A Burgessian critique of nominalistic tendencies in contemporary mathematics and its historiography
We analyze the developments in mathematical rigor from the viewpoint of a
Burgessian critique of nominalistic reconstructions. We apply such a critique
to the reconstruction of infinitesimal analysis accomplished through the
efforts of Cantor, Dedekind, and Weierstrass; to the reconstruction of Cauchy's
foundational work associated with the work of Boyer and Grabiner; and to
Bishop's constructivist reconstruction of classical analysis. We examine the
effects of a nominalist disposition on historiography, teaching, and research.Comment: 57 pages; 3 figures. Corrected misprint
Moments of vicious walkers and M\"obius graph expansions
A system of Brownian motions in one-dimension all started from the origin and
conditioned never to collide with each other in a given finite time-interval
is studied. The spatial distribution of such vicious walkers can be
described by using the repulsive eigenvalue-statistics of random Hermitian
matrices and it was shown that the present vicious walker model exhibits a
transition from the Gaussian unitary ensemble (GUE) statistics to the Gaussian
orthogonal ensemble (GOE) statistics as the time is going on from 0 to .
In the present paper, we characterize this GUE-to-GOE transition by presenting
the graphical expansion formula for the moments of positions of vicious
walkers. In the GUE limit , only the ribbon graphs contribute and the
problem is reduced to the classification of orientable surfaces by genus.
Following the time evolution of the vicious walkers, however, the graphs with
twisted ribbons, called M\"obius graphs, increase their contribution to our
expansion formula, and we have to deal with the topology of non-orientable
surfaces. Application of the recent exact result of dynamical correlation
functions yields closed expressions for the coefficients in the M\"obius
expansion using the Stirling numbers of the first kind.Comment: REVTeX4, 11 pages, 1 figure. v.2: calculations of the Green function
and references added. v.3: minor additions and corrections made for
publication in Phys.Rev.
Ten Misconceptions from the History of Analysis and Their Debunking
The widespread idea that infinitesimals were "eliminated" by the "great
triumvirate" of Cantor, Dedekind, and Weierstrass is refuted by an
uninterrupted chain of work on infinitesimal-enriched number systems. The
elimination claim is an oversimplification created by triumvirate followers,
who tend to view the history of analysis as a pre-ordained march toward the
radiant future of Weierstrassian epsilontics. In the present text, we document
distortions of the history of analysis stemming from the triumvirate ideology
of ontological minimalism, which identified the continuum with a single number
system. Such anachronistic distortions characterize the received interpretation
of Stevin, Leibniz, d'Alembert, Cauchy, and others.Comment: 46 pages, 4 figures; Foundations of Science (2012). arXiv admin note:
text overlap with arXiv:1108.2885 and arXiv:1110.545
Leibniz's Infinitesimals: Their Fictionality, Their Modern Implementations, And Their Foes From Berkeley To Russell And Beyond
Many historians of the calculus deny significant continuity between
infinitesimal calculus of the 17th century and 20th century developments such
as Robinson's theory. Robinson's hyperreals, while providing a consistent
theory of infinitesimals, require the resources of modern logic; thus many
commentators are comfortable denying a historical continuity. A notable
exception is Robinson himself, whose identification with the Leibnizian
tradition inspired Lakatos, Laugwitz, and others to consider the history of the
infinitesimal in a more favorable light. Inspite of his Leibnizian sympathies,
Robinson regards Berkeley's criticisms of the infinitesimal calculus as aptly
demonstrating the inconsistency of reasoning with historical infinitesimal
magnitudes. We argue that Robinson, among others, overestimates the force of
Berkeley's criticisms, by underestimating the mathematical and philosophical
resources available to Leibniz. Leibniz's infinitesimals are fictions, not
logical fictions, as Ishiguro proposed, but rather pure fictions, like
imaginaries, which are not eliminable by some syncategorematic paraphrase. We
argue that Leibniz's defense of infinitesimals is more firmly grounded than
Berkeley's criticism thereof. We show, moreover, that Leibniz's system for
differential calculus was free of logical fallacies. Our argument strengthens
the conception of modern infinitesimals as a development of Leibniz's strategy
of relating inassignable to assignable quantities by means of his
transcendental law of homogeneity.Comment: 69 pages, 3 figure
A Hexagon Model for 3D Lorentzian Quantum Cosmology
We formulate a dynamically triangulated model of three-dimensional Lorentzian
quantum gravity whose spatial sections are flat two-tori. It is shown that the
combinatorics involved in evaluating the one-step propagator (the transfer
matrix) is that of a set of vicious walkers on a two-dimensional lattice with
periodic boundary conditions and that the entropy of the model scales
exponentially with the volume. We also give explicit expressions for the
Teichm\"uller parameters of the spatial slices in terms of the discrete
parameters of the 3d triangulations, and reexpress the discretized action in
terms of them. The relative simplicity and explicitness of this model make it
ideally suited for an analytic study of the conformal-factor cancellation
observed previously in Lorentzian dynamical triangulations and of its relation
to alternative, reduced phase space quantizations of 3d gravity.Comment: 34 pages, 20 figures, some clarifying remarks added, final version to
appear in Phys Rev
Abortion in the United States' bible belt: organizing for power and empowerment
Over the last 30 years, conservative power in the United States, financed and organized by Christian fundamentalist sects, the Catholic Church, and conservative corporate and political leadership, has become more threatening and potentially destabilizing of progressive democratic principles and practices. Powerful interlocking political, financial and social forces are arrayed against women in many Southern and Western states. They are having destructive effects on women's ability to control their fertility and maintain bodily integrity and health. Poor women and women of color are disproportionately affected by restrictions on abortion services. Strategically developed interventions must be initiated and managed at every level in these localities. It is urgent to coordinate and empower individuals, multiple organizations and communities to engender effective changes in attitudes, norms, behavior and policies that will enable women to obtain reproductive health services, including abortion care. This paper describes contextual factors that continue to decimate U.S. women's right to health and, then, describes a community organizing-social action project in a number of US' states aimed at reversing the erosion of women's right to have or not to have children
- …