9 research outputs found
The Mean Drift: Tailoring the Mean Field Theory of Markov Processes for Real-World Applications
The statement of the mean field approximation theorem in the mean field
theory of Markov processes particularly targets the behaviour of population
processes with an unbounded number of agents. However, in most real-world
engineering applications one faces the problem of analysing middle-sized
systems in which the number of agents is bounded. In this paper we build on
previous work in this area and introduce the mean drift. We present the concept
of population processes and the conditions under which the approximation
theorems apply, and then show how the mean drift is derived through a
systematic application of the propagation of chaos. We then use the mean drift
to construct a new set of ordinary differential equations which address the
analysis of population processes with an arbitrary size
A new approach to quantitative propagation of chaos for drift, diffusion and jump processes
This paper is devoted the the study of the mean field limit for many-particle
systems undergoing jump, drift or diffusion processes, as well as combinations
of them. The main results are quantitative estimates on the decay of
fluctuations around the deterministic limit and of correlations between
particles, as the number of particles goes to infinity. To this end we
introduce a general functional framework which reduces this question to the one
of proving a purely functional estimate on some abstract generator operators
(consistency estimate) together with fine stability estimates on the flow of
the limiting nonlinear equation (stability estimates). Then we apply this
method to a Boltzmann collision jump process (for Maxwell molecules), to a
McKean-Vlasov drift-diffusion process and to an inelastic Boltzmann collision
jump process with (stochastic) thermal bath. To our knowledge, our approach
yields the first such quantitative results for a combination of jump and
diffusion processes.Comment: v2 (55 pages): many improvements on the presentation, v3: correction
of a few typos, to appear In Probability Theory and Related Field
A field-theoretic approach to the Wiener Sausage
The Wiener Sausage, the volume traced out by a sphere attached to a Brownian
particle, is a classical problem in statistics and mathematical physics.
Initially motivated by a range of field-theoretic, technical questions, we
present a single loop renormalised perturbation theory of a stochastic process
closely related to the Wiener Sausage, which, however, proves to be exact for
the exponents and some amplitudes. The field-theoretic approach is particularly
elegant and very enjoyable to see at work on such a classic problem. While we
recover a number of known, classical results, the field-theoretic techniques
deployed provide a particularly versatile framework, which allows easy
calculation with different boundary conditions even of higher momenta and more
complicated correlation functions. At the same time, we provide a highly
instructive, non-trivial example for some of the technical particularities of
the field-theoretic description of stochastic processes, such as excluded
volume, lack of translational invariance and immobile particles. The aim of the
present work is not to improve upon the well-established results for the Wiener
Sausage, but to provide a field-theoretic approach to it, in order to gain a
better understanding of the field-theoretic obstacles to overcome.Comment: 45 pages, 3 Figures, Springer styl