On a remarkable semigroup of homomorphisms with respect to free multiplicative convolution

Let M denote the space of Borel probability measures on the real line. For every nonnegative t we consider the transformation $\mathbb B_t : M \to M$ defined for any given element in M by taking succesively the the (1+t) power with respect to free additive convolution and then the 1/(1+t) power with respect to Boolean convolution of the given element. We show that the family of maps {\mathbb B_t|t\geq 0} is a semigroup with respect to the operation of composition and that, quite surprisingly, every $\mathbb B_t$ is a homomorphism for the operation of free multiplicative convolution. We prove that for t=1 the transformation $\mathbb B_1$ coincides with the canonical bijection $\mathbb B : M \to M_{inf-div}$ discovered by Bercovici and Pata in their study of the relations between infinite divisibility in free and in Boolean probability. Here M_{inf-div} stands for the set of probability distributions in M which are infinitely divisible with respect to free additive convolution. As a consequence, we have that $\mathbb B_t(\mu)$ is infinitely divisible with respect to free additive convolution for any for every $\mu$ in M and every t greater than or equal to one. On the other hand we put into evidence a relation between the transformations $\mathbb B_t$ and the free Brownian motion; indeed, Theorem 4 of the paper gives an interpretation of the transformations $\mathbb B_t$ as a way of re-casting the free Brownian motion, where the resulting process becomes multiplicative with respect to free multiplicative convolution, and always reaches infinite divisibility with respect to free additive convolution by the time t=1.Comment: 30 pages, minor changes; to appear in Indiana University Mathematics Journa

Free probability of type B: analytic interpretation and applications

In this paper we give an analytic interpretation of free convolution of type B, introduced by Biane, Goodman and Nica, and provide a new formula for its computation. This formula allows us to show that free additive convolution of type B is essentially a re-casting of conditionally free convolution. We put in evidence several aspects of this operation, the most significant being its apparition as an 'intertwiner' between derivation and free convolution of type A. We also show connections between several limit theorems in type A and type B free probability. Moreover, we show that the analytical picture fits very well with the idea of considering type B random variables as infinitesimal deformations to ordinary non-commutative random variables.Comment: 28 page

Regularization by free additive convolution, square and rectangular cases

The free convolution is the binary operation on the set of probability measures on the real line which allows to deduce, from the individual spectral distributions, the spectral distribution of a sum of independent unitarily invariant square random matrices or of a sum of free operators in a non commutative probability space. In the same way, the rectangular free convolution allows to deduce, from the individual singular distributions, the singular distribution of a sum of independent unitarily invariant rectangular random matrices. In this paper, we consider the regularization properties of these free convolutions on the whole real line. More specifically, we try to find continuous semigroups $(\mu_t)$ of probability measures such that $\mu_0$ is the Dirac mass at zero and such that for all positive $t$ and all probability measure $\nu$, the free convolution of $\mu_t$ with $\nu$ (or, in the rectangular context, the rectangular free convolution of $\mu_t$ with $\nu$) is absolutely continuous with respect to the Lebesgue measure, with a positive analytic density on the whole real line. In the square case, we prove that in semigroups satisfying this property, no measure can have a finite second moment, and we give a sufficient condition on semigroups to satisfy this property, with examples. In the rectangular case, we prove that in most cases, for $\mu$ in a continuous rectangular-convolution-semigroup, the rectangular convolution of $\mu$ with $\nu$ either has an atom at the origin or doesn't put any mass in a neighborhood of the origin, thus the expected property does not hold. However, we give sufficient conditions for analyticity of the density of the rectangular convolution of $\mu$ with $\nu$ except on a negligible set of points, as well as existence and continuity of a density everywhere.Comment: 43 pages, to appear in Complex Analysis and Operator Theor

Some Geometric Properties of the Subordination Function Associated to an Operator-Valued Free Convolution Semigroup

Latex, 20 pages, version extended to study Julia-Caratheodory derivatives for the functions involved.International audienceIn his article ''On the free convolution with a semicircular distribution," Biane found very useful characterizations of the boundary values of the imaginary part of the Cauchy-Stieltjes transform of the free additive convolution of a probability measure on the real line with a Wigner (semicircular) distribution. Biane's methods were recently extended by Huang to measures which belong to the partial free convolution semigroups introduced by Nica and Speicher. This note further extends some of Biane's methods and results to free convolution powers of operator-valued distributions and to free convolutions with operator-valued semicirculars. In addition, it investigates properties of the Julia-Caratheodory derivative of the subordination functions associated to such semigroups, extending certain results from the article "Partially Defined Semigroups Relative to Multiplicative Free Convolution" by Bercovici and the author (reference [7] in the text)