Periodic orbits of the ensemble of Sinai-Arnold cat maps and pseudorandom number generation

We propose methods for constructing high-quality pseudorandom number generators (RNGs) based on an ensemble of hyperbolic automorphisms of the unit two-dimensional torus (Sinai-Arnold map or cat map) while keeping a part of the information hidden. The single cat map provides the random properties expected from a good RNG and is hence an appropriate building block for an RNG, although unnecessary correlations are always present in practice. We show that introducing hidden variables and introducing rotation in the RNG output, accompanied with the proper initialization, dramatically suppress these correlations. We analyze the mechanisms of the single-cat-map correlations analytically and show how to diminish them. We generalize the Percival-Vivaldi theory in the case of the ensemble of maps, find the period of the proposed RNG analytically, and also analyze its properties. We present efficient practical realizations for the RNGs and check our predictions numerically. We also test our RNGs using the known stringent batteries of statistical tests and find that the statistical properties of our best generators are not worse than those of other best modern generators.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures, 9 table

Statistics of two-dimensional random walks, the "cyclic sieving phenomenon" and the Hofstadter model

We focus on the algebraic area probability distribution of planar random walks on a square lattice with $m_1$, $m_2$, $l_1$ and $l_2$ steps right, left, up and down. We aim, in particular, at the algebraic area generating function $Z_{m_1,m_2,l_1,l_2}(Q)$ evaluated at Q=e^{2\i\pi\over q}, a root of unity, when both $m_1-m_2$ and $l_1-l_2$ are multiples of $q$. In the simple case of staircase walks, a geometrical interpretation of $Z_{m,0,l,0}(e^\frac{2i\pi}{q})$ in terms of the cyclic sieving phenomenon is illustrated. Then, an expression for $Z_{m_1,m_2,l_1,l_2}(-1)$, which is relevant to the Stembridge's case, is proposed. Finally, the related problem of evaluating the n-th moments of the Hofstadter Hamiltonian in the commensurate case is addressed.Comment: 13 pages, LaTeX 2

A family of centered random walks on weight lattices conditioned to stay in Weyl chambers

Under a natural asumption on the drift, the law of the simple random walk on the multidimensional first quadrant conditioned to always stay in the first octant was obtained by O'Connell in [O]. It coincides with that of the image of the simple random walk under the multidimensional Pitman transform and can be expressed in terms of specializations of Schur functions. This result has been generalized in [LLP1] and [LLP2] for a large class of random walks on weight lattices defined from representations of Kac-Moody algebras and their conditionings to always stay in Weyl chambers. In these various works, the drift of the considered random walk is always assumed in the interior of the cone. In this paper, we introduce for some zero drift random walks defined from minuscule representations a relevant notion of conditioning to stay in Weyl chambers and we compute their laws. Namely, we consider the conditioning for these walks to stay in these cones until an instant we let tend to infinity. We also prove that the laws so obtained can be recovered by letting the drift tend to zero in the transitions matrices obtained in [LLP1]. We also conjecture our results remain true in the more general case of a drift in the frontier of the Weyl chamber

Exact Meander Asymptotics: a Numerical Check

This note addresses the meander enumeration problem: "Count all topologically inequivalent configurations of a closed planar non self-intersecting curve crossing a line through a given number of points". We review a description of meanders introduced recently in terms of the coupling to gravity of a two-flavored fully-packed loop model. The subsequent analytic predictions for various meandric configuration exponents are checked against exact enumeration, using a transfer matrix method, with an excellent agreement.Comment: 48 pages, 24 figures, tex, harvmac, eps