Patterns in random permutations avoiding the pattern 132

We consider a random permutation drawn from the set of 132-avoiding permutations of length $n$ and show that the number of occurrences of another pattern $\sigma$ has a limit distribution, after scaling by $n^{\lambda(\sigma)/2}$ where $\lambda(\sigma)$ is the length of $\sigma$ plus the number of descents. The limit is not normal, and can be expressed as a functional of a Brownian excursion. Moments can be found by recursion.Comment: 32 page

Asymptotic bias of some election methods

Consider an election where N seats are distributed among parties with proportions p_1,...,p_m of the votes. We study, for the common divisor and quota methods, the asymptotic distribution, and in particular the mean, of the seat excess of a party, i.e. the difference between the number of seats given to the party and the (real) number Np_i that yields exact proportionality. Our approach is to keep p_1,...,p_m fixed and let N tend to infinity, with N random in a suitable way. In particular, we give formulas showing the bias favouring large or small parties for the different election methods.Comment: 54 page

The largest component in a subcritical random graph with a power law degree distribution

It is shown that in a subcritical random graph with given vertex degrees satisfying a power law degree distribution with exponent $\gamma>3$, the largest component is of order $n^{1/(\gamma-1)}$. More precisely, the order of the largest component is approximatively given by a simple constant times the largest vertex degree. These results are extended to several other random graph models with power law degree distributions. This proves a conjecture by Durrett.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/07-AAP490 the Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Conditioned Galton-Watson trees do not grow

An example is given which shows that, in general, conditioned Galton-Watson trees cannot be obtained by adding vertices one by one, as has been shown in a special case by Luczak and Winkler.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Brownian excursion area, Wright's constants in graph enumeration, and other Brownian areas

This survey is a collection of various results and formulas by different authors on the areas (integrals) of five related processes, viz.\spacefactor =1000 Brownian motion, bridge, excursion, meander and double meander; for the Brownian motion and bridge, which take both positive and negative values, we consider both the integral of the absolute value and the integral of the positive (or negative) part. This gives us seven related positive random variables, for which we study, in particular, formulas for moments and Laplace transforms; we also give (in many cases) series representations and asymptotics for density functions and distribution functions. We further study Wright's constants arising in the asymptotic enumeration of connected graphs; these are known to be closely connected to the moments of the Brownian excursion area. The main purpose is to compare the results for these seven Brownian areas by stating the results in parallel forms; thus emphasizing both the similarities and the differences. A recurring theme is the Airy function which appears in slightly different ways in formulas for all seven random variables. We further want to give explicit relations between the many different similar notations and definitions that have been used by various authors. There are also some new results, mainly to fill in gaps left in the literature. Some short proofs are given, but most proofs are omitted and the reader is instead referred to the original sources.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/07-PS104 in the Probability Surveys (http://www.i-journals.org/ps/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Congruence properties of depths in some random trees

Consider a random recusive tree with n vertices. We show that the number of vertices with even depth is asymptotically normal as n tends to infinty. The same is true for the number of vertices of depth divisible by m for m=3, 4 or 5; in all four cases the variance grows linearly. On the other hand, for m at least 7, the number is not asymptotically normal, and the variance grows faster than linear in n. The case m=6 is intermediate: the number is asymptotically normal but the variance is of order n log n. This is a simple and striking example of a type of phase transition that has been observed by other authors in several cases. We prove, and perhaps explain, this non-intuitive behavious using a translation to a generalized Polya urn. Similar results hold for a random binary search tree; now the number of vertices of depth divisible by m is asymptotically normal for m at most 8 but not for m at least 9, and the variance grows linearly in the first case both faster in the second. (There is no intermediate case.) In contrast, we show that for conditioned Galton-Watson trees, including random labelled trees and random binary trees, there is no such phase transition: the number is asymptotically normal for every m.Comment: 23 page