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A discrete analogue of the Witten Laplacian on the n-dimensional integer lattice is considered. After rescaling of the operator and the lattice size we analyze the tunnel effect between different wells, providing sharp asymptotics of the low-lying spectrum. Our proof, inspired by work of B. Helffer, M. Klein and F. Nier in continuous setting, is based on the construction of a discrete Witten complex and a semiclassical analysis of the corresponding discrete Witten Laplacian on 1-forms. The result can be reformulated in terms of metastable Markov processes on the lattice.
This thesis investigates the gradient flow of Dirac-harmonic maps. Dirac-harmonic maps are critical points of an energy functional that is motivated from supersymmetric field theories. The critical points of this energy functional couple the equation for harmonic maps with spinor fields. At present, many analytical properties of Dirac-harmonic maps are known, but a general existence result is still missing. In this thesis the existence question is studied using the evolution equations for a regularized version of Dirac-harmonic maps. Since the energy functional for Dirac-harmonic maps is unbounded from below the method of the gradient flow cannot be applied directly. Thus, we first of all consider a regularization prescription for Dirac-harmonic maps and then study the gradient flow. Chapter 1 gives some background material on harmonic maps/harmonic spinors and summarizes the current known results about Dirac-harmonic maps. Chapter 2 introduces the notion of Dirac-harmonic maps in detail and presents a regularization prescription for Dirac-harmonic maps. In Chapter 3 the evolution equations for regularized Dirac-harmonic maps are introduced. In addition, the evolution of certain energies is discussed. Moreover, the existence of a short-time solution to the evolution equations is established. Chapter 4 analyzes the evolution equations in the case that the domain manifold is a closed curve. Here, the existence of a smooth long-time solution is proven. Moreover, for the regularization being large enough, it is shown that the evolution equations converge to a regularized Dirac-harmonic map. Finally, it is discussed in which sense the regularization can be removed. In Chapter 5 the evolution equations are studied when the domain manifold is a closed Riemmannian spin surface. For the regularization being large enough, the existence of a global weak solution, which is smooth away from finitely many singularities is proven. It is shown that the evolution equations converge weakly to a regularized Dirac-harmonic map. In addition, it is discussed if the regularization can be removed in this case.
In this work we are concerned with the characterization of certain classes of stochastic processes via duality formulae. First, we introduce a new formulation of a characterization of processes with independent increments, which is based on an integration by parts formula satisfied by infinitely divisible random vectors. Then we focus on the study of the reciprocal classes of Markov processes. These classes contain all stochastic processes having the same bridges, and thus similar dynamics, as a reference Markov process. We start with a resume of some existing results concerning the reciprocal classes of Brownian diffusions as solutions of duality formulae. As a new contribution, we show that the duality formula satisfied by elements of the reciprocal class of a Brownian diffusion has a physical interpretation as a stochastic Newton equation of motion. In the context of pure jump processes we derive the following new results. We will analyze the reciprocal classes of Markov counting processes and characterize them as a group of stochastic processes satisfying a duality formula. This result is applied to time-reversal of counting processes. We are able to extend some of these results to pure jump processes with different jump-sizes, in particular we are able to compare the reciprocal classes of Markov pure jump processes through a functional equation between the jump-intensities.
A point process is a mechanism, which realizes randomly locally finite point measures. One of the main results of this thesis is an existence theorem for a new class of point processes with a so called signed Levy pseudo measure L, which is an extension of the class of infinitely divisible point processes. The construction approach is a combination of the classical point process theory, as developed by Kerstan, Matthes and Mecke, with the method of cluster expansions from statistical mechanics. Here the starting point is a family of signed Radon measures, which defines on the one hand the Levy pseudo measure L, and on the other hand locally the point process. The relation between L and the process is the following: this point process solves the integral cluster equation determined by L. We show that the results from the classical theory of infinitely divisible point processes carry over in a natural way to the larger class of point processes with a signed Levy pseudo measure. In this way we obtain e.g. a criterium for simplicity and a characterization through the cluster equation, interpreted as an integration by parts formula, for such point processes. Our main result in chapter 3 is a representation theorem for the factorial moment measures of the above point processes. With its help we will identify the permanental respective determinantal point processes, which belong to the classes of Boson respective Fermion processes. As a by-product we obtain a representation of the (reduced) Palm kernels of infinitely divisible point processes. In chapter 4 we see how the existence theorem enables us to construct (infinitely extended) Gibbs, quantum-Bose and polymer processes. The so called polymer processes seem to be constructed here for the first time. In the last part of this thesis we prove that the family of cluster equations has certain stability properties with respect to the transformation of its solutions. At first this will be used to show how large the class of solutions of such equations is, and secondly to establish the cluster theorem of Kerstan, Matthes and Mecke in our setting. With its help we are able to enlarge the class of Polya processes to the so called branching Polya processes. The last sections of this work are about thinning and splitting of point processes. One main result is that the classes of Boson and Fermion processes remain closed under thinning. We use the results on thinning to identify a subclass of point processes with a signed Levy pseudo measure as doubly stochastic Poisson processes. We also pose the following question: Assume you observe a realization of a thinned point process. What is the distribution of deleted points? Surprisingly, the Papangelou kernel of the thinning, besides a constant factor, is given by the intensity measure of this conditional probability, called splitting kernel.
This work is concerned with the characterization of certain classes of stochastic processes via duality formulae. In particular we consider reciprocal processes with jumps, a subject up to now neglected in the literature. In the first part we introduce a new formulation of a characterization of processes with independent increments. This characterization is based on a duality formula satisfied by processes with infinitely divisible increments, in particular Lévy processes, which is well known in Malliavin calculus. We obtain two new methods to prove this duality formula, which are not based on the chaos decomposition of the space of square-integrable function- als. One of these methods uses a formula of partial integration that characterizes infinitely divisible random vectors. In this context, our characterization is a generalization of Stein’s lemma for Gaussian random variables and Chen’s lemma for Poisson random variables. The generality of our approach permits us to derive a characterization of infinitely divisible random measures. The second part of this work focuses on the study of the reciprocal classes of Markov processes with and without jumps and their characterization. We start with a resume of already existing results concerning the reciprocal classes of Brownian diffusions as solutions of duality formulae. As a new contribution, we show that the duality formula satisfied by elements of the reciprocal class of a Brownian diffusion has a physical interpretation as a stochastic Newton equation of motion. Thus we are able to connect the results of characterizations via duality formulae with the theory of stochastic mechanics by our interpretation, and to stochastic optimal control theory by the mathematical approach. As an application we are able to prove an invariance property of the reciprocal class of a Brownian diffusion under time reversal. In the context of pure jump processes we derive the following new results. We describe the reciprocal classes of Markov counting processes, also called unit jump processes, and obtain a characterization of the associated reciprocal class via a duality formula. This formula contains as key terms a stochastic derivative, a compensated stochastic integral and an invariant of the reciprocal class. Moreover we present an interpretation of the characterization of a reciprocal class in the context of stochastic optimal control of unit jump processes. As a further application we show that the reciprocal class of a Markov counting process has an invariance property under time reversal. Some of these results are extendable to the setting of pure jump processes, that is, we admit different jump-sizes. In particular, we show that the reciprocal classes of Markov jump processes can be compared using reciprocal invariants. A characterization of the reciprocal class of compound Poisson processes via a duality formula is possible under the assumption that the jump-sizes of the process are incommensurable.
Asymptotic solutions of the Dirichlet problem for the heat equation at a characteristic point
(2012)
The Dirichlet problem for the heat equation in a bounded domain is characteristic, for there are boundary points at which the boundary touches a characteristic hyperplane t = c, c being a constant. It was I.G. Petrovskii (1934) who first found necessary and sufficient conditions on the boundary which guarantee that the solution is continuous up to the characteristic point, provided that the Dirichlet data are continuous. This paper initiated standing interest in studying general boundary value problems for parabolic equations in bounded domains. We contribute to the study by constructing a formal solution of the Dirichlet problem for the heat equation in a neighbourhood of a characteristic boundary point and showing its asymptotic character.
We develop the method of Fischer-Riesz equations for general boundary value problems elliptic in the sense of Douglis-Nirenberg. To this end we reduce them to a boundary problem for a (possibly overdetermined) first order system whose classical symbol has a left inverse. For such a problem there is a uniquely determined boundary value problem which is adjoint to the given one with respect to the Green formula. On using a well elaborated theory of approximation by solutions of the adjoint problem, we find the Cauchy data of solutions of our problem.
We study the Dirichlet problem in a bounded plane domain for the heat equation with small parameter multiplying the derivative in t. The behaviour of solution at characteristic points of the boundary is of special interest. The behaviour is well understood if a characteristic line is tangent to the boundary with contact degree at least 2. We allow the boundary to not only have contact of degree less than 2 with a characteristic line but also a cuspidal singularity at a characteristic point. We construct an asymptotic solution of the problem near the characteristic point to describe how the boundary layer degenerates.
A linear differential operator L is called weakly hypoelliptic if any local solution u of Lu = 0 is smooth. We allow for systems, i.e. the coefficients may be matrices, not necessarily of square size. This is a huge class of important operators which covers all elliptic, overdetermined elliptic, subelliptic and parabolic equations. We extend several classical theorems from complex analysis to solutions of any weakly hypoelliptic equation: the Montel theorem providing convergent subsequences, the Vitali theorem ensuring convergence of a given sequence, and Riemann's first removable singularity theorem. In the case of constant coefficients we show that Liouville's theorem holds, any bounded solution must be constant and any L^p solution must vanish.
We introduce renormalized integrals which generalize conventional measure theoretic integrals. One approximates the integration domain by measure spaces and defines the integral as the limit of integrals over the approximating spaces. This concept is implicitly present in many mathematical contexts such as Cauchy's principal value, the determinant of operators on a Hilbert space and the Fourier transform of an L^p function. We use renormalized integrals to define a path integral on manifolds by approximation via geodesic polygons. The main part of the paper is dedicated to the proof of a path integral formula for the heat kernel of any self-adjoint generalized Laplace operator acting on sections of a vector bundle over a compact Riemannian manifold.
We consider orthogonal connections with arbitrary torsion on compact Riemannian manifolds. For the induced Dirac operators, twisted Dirac operators and Dirac operators of Chamseddine-Connes type we compute the spectral action. In addition to the Einstein-Hilbert action and the bosonic part of the Standard Model Lagrangian we find the Holst term from Loop Quantum Gravity, a coupling of the Holst term to the scalar curvature and a prediction for the value of the Barbero-Immirzi parameter.
We study boundary value problems for linear elliptic differential operators of order one. The underlying manifold may be noncompact, but the boundary is assumed to be compact. We require a symmetry property of the principal symbol of the operator along the boundary. This is satisfied by Dirac type operators, for instance. We provide a selfcontained introduction to (nonlocal) elliptic boundary conditions, boundary regularity of solutions, and index theory. In particular, we simplify and generalize the traditional theory of elliptic boundary value problems for Dirac type operators. We also prove a related decomposition theorem, a general version of Gromov and Lawson's relative index theorem and a generalization of the cobordism theorem.
This is an introduction to Wiener measure and the Feynman-Kac formula on general Riemannian manifolds for Riemannian geometers with little or no background in stochastics. We explain the construction of Wiener measure based on the heat kernel in full detail and we prove the Feynman-Kac formula for Schrödinger operators with bounded potentials. We also consider normal Riemannian coverings and show that projecting and lifting of paths are inverse operations which respect the Wiener measure.
We consider compact Riemannian spin manifolds without boundary equipped with orthogonal connections. We investigate the induced Dirac operators and the associated commutative spectral triples. In case of dimension four and totally anti-symmetric torsion we compute the Chamseddine-Connes spectral action, deduce the equations of motions and discuss critical points.
This paper examines and develops matrix methods to approximate the eigenvalues of a fourth order Sturm-Liouville problem subjected to a kind of fixed boundary conditions, furthermore, it extends the matrix methods for a kind of general boundary conditions. The idea of the methods comes from finite difference and Numerov's method as well as boundary value methods for second order regular Sturm-Liouville problems. Moreover, the determination of the correction term formulas of the matrix methods are investigated in order to obtain better approximations of the problem with fixed boundary conditions since the exact eigenvalues for q = 0 are known in this case. Finally, some numerical examples are illustrated.
The Riemann hypothesis is equivalent to the fact the the reciprocal function 1/zeta (s) extends from the interval (1/2,1) to an analytic function in the quarter-strip 1/2 < Re s < 1 and Im s > 0. Function theory allows one to rewrite the condition of analytic continuability in an elegant form amenable to numerical experiments.