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Thursday 9 July

Probability

Weak Poincaré Inequalities via Approximate Stochastic Localization: Application to Sampling the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick Model

We develop a new method for proving a weak functional inequality by first proving it for a sufficiently regular sequence of distributions approximating the stochastic localization (SL) process, and then transferring it to the desired distribution via regularity of the SL process and conductance arguments. We use this strategy to prove a weak Poincaré inequality (WPI) holds for the Gibbs measure of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model when $\beta < \frac{1}{2}$. A prior result of the authors [arXiv:2605.03718, 2026] proves the ASL process for the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model satisfies the required regularity conditions. A consequence of the WPI is that a much simpler algorithm – Glauber dynamics with a warm-start – efficiently samples the Gibbs measure of the SK model at $\beta < \frac{1}{2}$. This is a significant structural step towards resolution of the conjecture that Glauber dynamics mixes fast in the replica-symmetric regime for the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model [arXiv:2504.20539, Open-Problem 15, 2025].
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All authors Ewan Davies, Holden Lee, Juspreet Singh Sandhu, Jonathan Shi

Probability · Cross-listed from math.ST

Parameter inference for partially observed branching processes

In this paper, we study an age-dependent branching process. In the simplest setting, the population is divided into two age groups, namely juveniles and adults. Our objective is to estimate the model parameters using observations of the total population size only (i.e., juveniles plus adults). Focusing on the ergodic regime of the model, we introduce a method-of-moments estimator and establish its asymptotic normality. Several extensions are discussed, including models with more than two age groups.
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Probability

Functional Limit Theorems for Random Least Common Multiples

Let $A_n$ be a subset of $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$ obtained by retaining each integer independently with fixed probability $\theta\in(0,1)$, and let $L_n$ be the least common multiple of the integers in $A_n$. We prove a functional large deviation principle, a functional moderate deviation principle, and a Strassen-type functional law of the iterated logarithm for the process $(\log L_{\lfloor{nt}\rfloor})_{0\le t\le1}$. The large deviation rate function is given by an entropy contraction for geometric marks, while the moderate deviation rate function and LIL cluster set are described by the reproducing kernel Hilbert space associated with the Gaussian limit process.
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Wednesday 8 July

Probability · Cross-listed from cs.LG

Neural means and kernel corrections for operator learning

We combine neural network means with exact Matérn kernel regressions of their residuals and of their learned features, and evaluate the pairing on two public emulation problems with published baselines: the structural-mechanics benchmark of de Hoop et al. and the OCO-2 radiative-transfer emulator of Lamminpää et al. On structural mechanics the combination reaches 4.55% test error, matching the best published architecture, and 5.38% against a published 6.49% in the low-data regime. On OCO-2 it improves on the published Gaussian-process emulator on that problem's own test points, outright on two of the three spectral bands; the same kernel that trails the network tenfold on the raw state overtakes it on the network's features, and we measure why (the target's squared native-space norm drops about fortyfold at fixed effective dimension) and prove the mechanism. Where the two families tie instead, the residuals of every architecture we train correlate above 0.86 and their shared component is flat in diversity and sample size, which reads the published plateau as a property of the data. Supporting results include a second-moment identity that predicts stacking outcomes from measured correlations, an optimal-recovery certificate, and a distribution-free coverage band, the only uncertainty signal that survives our tests.
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Probability · Cross-listed from math.OC

Tree-based solution representations for quadratic bilinear systems and their consequences in model order reduction

We investigate quadratic bilinear systems by developing novel tree-based representations of their solutions. The proposed framework decomposes the solution into a sequence of coupled bilinear subsystems whose components admit explicit expansions indexed by full binary trees. These representations yield sufficient conditions for the existence of global solutions and lead to new output bounds in terms of reachability Gramians. Motivated by these estimates, we introduce time-limited and infinite-horizon reachability and observability Gramians, establish sufficient conditions for their existence, and characterize them through nonlinear matrix equations. The associated Gramians are employed to identify dominant state-spaces and to derive exact reduced-order models obtained by removing Gramian kernels. Building on these results, we develop a balanced truncation method for quadratic bilinear systems and prove an error bound for the reduced-order approximation. The proposed framework provides a unified connection between tree-based solution representations, nonlinear Gramian theory, and balanced truncation for quadratic bilinear systems, closing several theoretical gaps in the analysis of Gramian-based model reduction for this class of systems.
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Probability · Cross-listed from cs.LG

A law of robustness for two-layer neural networks with arbitrary weights

Bubeck, Li and Nagaraj conjectured that, for generic data, any two-layer neural network with $m$ neurons that fits $n$ noisy labels must have Lipschitz constant at least of order $\sqrt{n/m}$, with no restriction on the size of the weights. Bubeck and Sellke proved a universal version of this law for Lipschitz-parameterized classes, but under a polynomial bound on the parameters; at depth three that boundedness hypothesis is genuinely necessary. The two-layer unbounded-weight case requires a different argument. We prove the conjectured law, up to one logarithmic factor, for every continuous piecewise-linear activation, in particular for ReLU networks. For data drawn uniformly from $\mathbb{S}^{d-1}$, $d\ge3$, or from $N(0,I_d/d)$, labels in $[-1,1]$ with noise level $\sigma^2>0$, and any width-$m$ two-layer network with arbitrary real weights, biases and affine skip connection, fitting the data $\varepsilon$ below the noise floor forces $\mathrm{Lip}(f)\ge c\,\varepsilon\sqrt{n/(\bar m\log(C\bar m nd/\varepsilon))}$, $\bar m=(K-1)m+1$, with high probability. A realized-kink-count version holds on the same event: every realized two-layer piecewise-linear function with $k(f)\le n$ distinct kink hyperplanes obeys the bound with $\bar m$ replaced by $k(f)+1$, irrespective of how many redundant hidden units parameterize it. The proof replaces parameter-space covering, impossible for unbounded weights, by a function-space covering. The central deterministic ingredient is a rigidity lemma: on $B_2$, and on $\mathbb{S}^{d-1}$ for $d\ge3$, the coefficient of each canonical kink is controlled by the Lipschitz constant of the realized function, because kinks on distinct hyperplanes cannot cancel at generic points. Rigidity genuinely fails at $d=2$, and an explicit two-layer ReLU interpolant with $O(1)$ Lipschitz constant at width $2n$ matches the law at the overparameterized endpoint.
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Probability · Cross-listed from math.ST

Minimum Norm Interpolation via The Local Theory of Banach Spaces: The Role of Gaussianity

We study minimum-norm interpolation (MNI) in overparameterized linear regression with isotropic Gaussian covariates, in settings where the MNI has no closed-form formula. Whereas most prior work relied on Gaussian comparison tools such as the convex Gaussian min–max theorem (CGMT), our approach uses tools from high-dimensional geometry and probability. First, when the norm is in isotropic position, we obtain an “offset” bound that controls the amount by which the MNI shrinks the ground truth. Second, we show that the “intrinsic” variance of the $\ell_1$-MNI is at most $O(\tfrac{1}{n\log(d/n)^2})$, using a variant of Talagrand's $L_1$–$L_2$ inequality due to Cordero-Erausquin and Ledoux [2012], together with a classical result of Gluskin [1988]. We recover the sharp mean-squared error (MSE) bound for the $\ell_1$-MNI obtained by Wang et al. [2022], using the work of Fleury [2012] on the symmetric Gaussian polytope, which is defined via \[ P_{n,d} := \mathrm{conv}\{\pm X_i\}_{i=1}^{d} \text{ where } X_i \overset{\mathrm{i.i.d.}}{\sim} N(0,\mathrm{I}_{n \times n}), \] rather than CGMT. Our methods also imply improvements on previous results in high-dimensional geometry that may be of independent interest. First, we show that with overwhelming probability, the ratio between the isotropic constant of $P_{n,d}$ and that of the Euclidean ball in $\mathbb{R}^n$ is at most $1+O((\log(d/n))^{-2})$, improving a result of Klartag and Kozma [2009]. We also establish a refined weighted thin-shell estimate on $P_{n,d}$, and provide an elementary proof of the main theorem of Fleury [2012].
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Probability · Cross-listed from math.ST

Any-Dimensional Learning by Sampling

Many machine learning models are defined for inputs of different sizes, such as point clouds containing different numbers of points, sequences of tokens of different lengths, and graphs on different numbers of nodes. Such models are trained on finitely many examples of necessarily limited sizes. How well do these models generalize from inputs of small size to larger inputs of size not seen during training? Furthermore, evaluating such models on large inputs is often expensive. How can we sketch large inputs to obtain smaller ones on which the model takes similar values? At the heart of both questions is the need to compare inputs of different sizes and to approximate large inputs by small ones. We present a unified approach to address these questions by using random sampling maps to compare inputs of different sizes. The sampling maps we consider are generalizations of sampling with replacement, random binning, and species sampling. We characterize the application domains in which each type of sampling is appropriate in terms of the symmetries and relations between problem instances of different sizes in the domain. Our framework yields explicit generalization and sketching rates for function classes continuous with respect to a chosen notion of sampling, encompassing large families of functions defined on sequences, graphs, and tensors of different sizes. Specific examples include moment polynomials on measures, homomorphism densities and numbers of graphs, permutation-invariant transformers, and graph neural networks.
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Probability · Cross-listed from math.AP

On probabilistic ill-posedness

In this note, we introduce an enhanced notion of probabilistic well-posedness for dispersive PDEs with random initial data by imposing stability at the origin as the amplitude of randomization tends to $0$. We then use this notion to re-interpret recent works on "beyond variance blowup" for dispersive PDEs, by the authors with their collaborators (2025, 2026), as probabilistic ill-posedness results. By drawing an analogy to the failure of $C^k$-smoothness of a solution map in the deterministic setting, we interpret variance blowup results as mild probabilistic ill-posedness.
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Probability · Cross-listed from math.AP

Unconditional well-posedness of the stochastic Korteweg-de Vries equation on the real line

We study well-posedness issues of the stochastic Korteweg-de Vries equation (SKdV) with an additive noise, posed on the real line. By using the Fourier restriction norm method adapted to the Fourier-Lebesgue space in time, we first prove global well-posedness of SKdV in $L^2(\mathbb R)$ without assuming the homogenous Sobolev regularity, which was imposed in a work by de Bouard, Debussche, and Tsutsumi (1999). Then, by adapting the argument by Zhou (1997) to the stochastic setting, we prove optimal pathwise unconditional uniqueness for SKdV in $L^2(\mathbb R)$. In the appendix, we present a short argument for proving boundedness of the multiplication by a sharp cutoff function in the Fourier-Lebesgue and Sobolev spaces, which is of interest in its own right.
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Probability · Cross-listed from math.AP

Fourier restriction norm method adapted to controlled paths: stochastic wave equations

We investigate the pathwise well-posedness issue of the stochastic nonlinear wave equation (SNLW) with a multiplicative noise. While the Ito solution theory (= random field solution theory) was established in the '80s, its pathwise well-posedness has remained a challenging open problem for over forty years. By building a unified framework for the Fourier restriction norm method adapted to the $U^p$- and $V^p$-spaces, due to Koch and Tataru (2007), and the Young/rough integration theory via the sewing lemma and controlled paths due to Gubinelli (2004) along with the random tensor estimate for multiple stochastic integrals with respect to (fractional) Brownian motions, we establish pathwise local well-posedness of SNLW in optimal regularity ranges. In particular, in the one-dimensional case with a white-in-time noise, our result covers the case of an almost space-time white noise, which is optimal within the framework of one-parameter rough paths.
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Probability

Loop Equations Characterize Random Matrix Statistics

We prove that the universal local point processes of random matrix theory are characterized by their loop equation hierarchies. More precisely, for every rational $\beta>0$, the $\mathrm{Sine}_{\beta}$ point process is the unique solution of the bulk loop equation hierarchy, and the $\mathrm{Airy}_{\beta}$ point process is the unique solution of the edge loop equation hierarchy. These uniqueness results provide a direct route to universality: it suffices to verify the corresponding approximate loop equations for the ensemble. In many models, these equations follow from local laws and integration by parts.
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Probability

The End of the Double Random Current

The Ising correlation function can be expressed in terms of connectivity probabilities of a random graph known as the double random current. In 2016, Duminil-Copin asked whether this random graph only has one topological end. One-endedness implies that free and wired random-cluster measures are equal and that any translation-invariant Gibbs measure of the Ising model is a convex combination of the $+$ and $-$ Gibbs measures. In the general setting of transitive amenable graphs, these properties have been established by Raoufi, effectively circumventing the question of one-endedness. In this paper, we prove one-endedness of the double random current on any transitive, amenable one-ended graph and, relying on Raoufi's work, we answer the question of Duminil-Copin in the affirmative in this general setup. The results of this paper do not give a new proof of uniqueness of random-cluster measure or the characterisations of Gibbs states for the Ising model.
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Probability

Universal Central Limit Theorem for non-exchangeable interacting diffusions

We study non-exchangeable interacting diffusions with pairwise interaction strengths encoded by a sequence of matrices. Under suitable structural and denseness conditions on these matrices, we prove a universal Central Limit Theorem for the global fluctuation field. As the number of particles $n$ becomes large, it converges in distribution to the unique solution of a stochastic partial differential equation (SPDE), the same Gaussian limit as in the exchangeable mean field case. The result applies, for instance, to scaled adjacency matrices of $m_n$-regular graphs when $m_n/\sqrt{n}\to\infty$. A spatial interaction model shows that the $n^{-1/2}$ denseness threshold is sharp. The proof proceeds with an analysis in negative Sobolev spaces, building on sharp quantitative propagation of chaos results together with functional inequalities.
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Probability

Surviving from the tip of a cone in competing first-passage percolation

In two-type first passage percolation on $\mathbb{Z}^2$, two entities compete to capture the sites of the lattice. The entities spread between nearest neighbor sites at times specified by random passage times associated with the edges. We consider the case when both types have the same passage time distribution, with one type starting at the origin and the other from an infinite cone with tip at the origin and pointing in direction $\theta$. Itai Benjamini has suggested that the type starting at the origin can grow unboundedly if and only if the slope of the cone is strictly smaller than $\pi/2$, so that the cone does not fill a whole half-plane. The main result is that this is correct for any $\theta$ such that the asymptotic shape of the one-type process has a tangent line with direction $\theta$. The proofs are based on a description of infinite time-minimizing paths in terms of Busemann functions together with local modification arguments.
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Probability

Weak convergence rate for the Cox-Ingersoll-Ross process

We study the weak convergence rate of a drift-implicit discretisation scheme for the Cox-Ingersoll-Ross (CIR) process in the regime where the process remains strictly positive. Specifically, we consider scheme~(4) of Alfonsi~\cite{A}, which arises naturally from applying a drift-implicit Euler step to the SDE satisfied by the square root of the CIR process and admits a unique positive closed-form solution at each time step. Using a PDE approach combined with a continuous-time SDE representation of the discretised process, we prove that the weak convergence rate is $\mathcal{O}(1/N)$ under the Feller condition $2\alpha\geq\theta^2$ and mild polynomial growth conditions on the payoff function. The proof requires only elementary techniques and, in particular, avoids the semi-exact simulation machinery used in earlier work. The methodology is expected to extend to a broader class of diffusion processes.
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Probability

Essential spectrum for Brox-type diffusion processes

This paper investigates the essential spectrum and compactness property of Markov semigroups generated by multi-dimensional Brox diffusion processes under two types of random media: stationary Gaussian random fields and semi-selfsimilar Lévy random fields. For Gaussian environments satisfying general stationary covariance growth conditions, we prove that the associated semigroup is almost surely noncompact; if the covariance function grows sublinearly at infinity, then the bottom of the essential spectrum vanishes almost surely, with fractional Brownian fields as a concrete example. For multi-dimensional semi-selfsimilar Lévy environments with scaling index $\alpha\in(1,2)$, we show that the essential spectral bottom equals zero almost surely for arbitrary space dimension $d\ge1$, and the same conclusion holds for one-dimensional symmetric $\alpha$-stable Lévy processes with any $\alpha\in(0,2)$. Furthermore, we study one-dimensional diffusion operators perturbed by random Lévy drift. When $0<\delta\le 1/\alpha$, random environmental fluctuations can destroy the compactness of semigroups induced by deterministic power-law potentials $\pm|x|^\delta$, even if the unperturbed semigroup is compact. The analysis relies on almost sure volume growth estimates for the random reference measure induced by environmental potentials, sample path asymptotics of random fields, ergodic theory of scaling transforms, and spectral criteria for regular Dirichlet forms. A unified framework linking sample path behaviors of random potentials to spectral characteristics of diffusion semigroups is established, and several open problems for large potential exponents are stated.
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Probability

Quantitative limit theorems for generalized Pólya urns with applications to random tree models

We establish novel quantitative limit theorems for the asymptotic distribution of colours in a generalized Pólya urn. Concretely, we construct explicit rates of convergence for the proportion of balls of each colour in the urn, both in square-mean and almost surely, under a general condition on the replacement matrix. As an application, we revisit three models of random recursive trees studied by Janson (Random Structures & Algorithms 26 (2005), 69–83): random recursive trees, random plane recursive trees, and random recursive $d$-ary trees. For each model, we show that the corresponding outdegree statistics can be cast as generalized Pólya urns, and thereby obtain explicit rates of convergence, both in $L^2$ and almost surely, for the proportion of nodes of each outdegree. In all three cases, the rates we obtain are of order $O(1/n)$ in $L^2$ and almost surely, and are uniform in the outdegree under consideration.
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Probability

Norm Bounds for Sparse Random Tensors and Spectral Gap of Random Hypergraphs

Friedman and Wigderson (1995) introduced a notion of second eigenvalue for hypergraphs that generalizes the second eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix of a graph. We show that $r$-uniform Erdős-Rényi hypergraphs on $n$ vertices exhibit a spectral gap as soon as their expected number of hyperedges $m$ satisfies $m \gg n^{r/2}$. Prior work identified this scale only up to logarithmic factors; removing these factors is the main technical challenge. Our proof overcomes this obstacle through an explicit decomposition of an associated selector process, inspired by a generic decomposition theorem of Talagrand (2021). As a consequence of our techniques, we obtain improved norm bounds for sparse random tensors with independent entries. Finally, under a mild moment equivalence assumption, we extend to tensors a seminal result of Seginer (2000) for random matrices with i.i.d. entries.
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Probability

Multi-time Markov renewal chains and stratified renewal theorems

We develop stratified renewal theorems for multi-time observations of Markov-additive paths on standard Borel state spaces with nonnegative integer vector increments. Horizon directions with the same active constraints form strata. A compact-uniform inverse expansion yields a global limit in a topology combining hypi-convergence with exact restrictions to each stratum. At Brownian scale, the central theorem determines the joint terminal-edge law at fixed finite families of critical horizons about a common direction, under nondegenerate pairwise Gaussian contrasts. One Gaussian vector selects the exiting coordinates. Selections of the same coordinate at the same threshold share an edge; different selected pairs carry conditionally independent equilibrium marks. These marks retain both endpoint states, the full increment, age and overshoot. Under total-variation convergence of the state marginal to stationarity, pointwise scalar renewal convergence in total variation suffices for the marked argument. Regenerative conditions provide explicit criteria. Stationary scalar level processes retain dependence at fixed integer offsets. Under additional moment conditions, a second-order allocation theorem localizes optimal budgets and, with the marked hypotheses and nonsingular Gaussian contrasts, yields a cost-weighted equilibrium-edge mixture. An exact covariance criterion links uniform tightness of the unperturbed inverse field to the absence of a square-root allocation loss. Finite, denumerable and continuous modulating environments are included.
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Probability

Coordinate-wise Elephant Random Walk

We introduce a coordinate-wise version of the elephant random walk on the $k$-dimensional discrete hypercube $Q_k=\{-1,1\}^k$. At each global time step, one coordinate is selected uniformly at random and updated according to an elephant-type memory rule using only the past values of that coordinate. The resulting process is a nearest-neighbor walk with possible holding on the hypercube, but it is not Markovian on $Q_k$ because the transition probabilities depend on coordinate-wise empirical histories. We show that, when all memory parameters satisfy $p_i<1$, the coordinate-wise memory biases vanish almost surely. Consequently, the time-dependent transition kernels of the walk are asymptotically close in total variation to the memoryless coordinate-refresh kernel. Using this perturbation argument and the uniform ergodicity of the refresh chain, we prove a weak law of large numbers for bounded observables. We then study the Doob martingale associated with a bounded observable and prove a martingale central limit theorem and functional central limit theorem. The limiting variance is determined by the refresh kernel and the uniform measure on the hypercube, and is completely independent of the memory parameters $p_1,p_2,\dots,p_k.$
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Probability

Local large deviations for linear-region growth in random piecewise-linear networks

We study a random compositional model for the growth of affine regions in deep piecewise-linear networks. The model is generated by i.i.d.\ perturbations of the symmetric height-one tent map, and the main observable is the number \(N_n\) of affine pieces after \(n\) layers. We prove the existence of a submultiplicative pressure for \(N_n\), yielding exponential upper bounds for both tails of \(n^{-1}\log N_n\). The same argument applies to abstract submultiplicative complexity observables and gives higher-dimensional extensions for convex-polytopal affine-cover counts and worst-line affine-piece counts. Since the true branch count has no matching supermultiplicative inequality, lower bounds require a separate certified construction. We introduce a finite-state defect process that records branches whose future splitting can be guaranteed, and use bridge words to obtain constructive upper-tail lower bounds. In a uniformly favorable small-noise regime, this process is governed by a companion matrix whose Perron root tends to \(2\), implying eventual exclusion of lower tails below \(\log 2-\xi\).
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Probability

Universality for cokernels of partially random integral matrices

Given any $\varepsilon > 0$, let $M(n)$ be a random $n \times (n+u)$ matrix over $\mathbb{Z}_p$, with all entries independent and $\varepsilon$-balanced (lying in each residue class mod $p$ with probability at most $1-\varepsilon$). Wood proved that as $n \to \infty$ the distribution of $\mathrm{cok}(M(n))$ approaches Cohen and Lenstra's conjectured distribution of class groups. Given $\alpha,\beta >0$ such that $\alpha + \beta <1$, we prove that the distribution of $\mathrm{cok}(M(n))$ still approaches the Cohen–Lenstra distribution even if we weaken the hypothesis by allowing up to $\alpha n$ entries per column and up to $\beta n$ entries per row of $M(n)$ to not be $\varepsilon$-balanced. We also weaken the independence condition by allowing certain types of dependence between the entries of each column. In addition, we prove that, for any $\delta > 0$, the cokernels of random band matrices of width $\log(n)^{1+\delta}$ with $\varepsilon$-balanced entries in the band and arbitrary entries outside of it will also approach the Cohen–Lenstra distribution, which answers a question of Kang–Lee–Yu.
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Probability · Cross-listed from math-ph

Invariant Measures for Soliton Systems Generated by Mealy Automata

We study invariant measures for soliton systems described by Mealy automata. Motivated by recently introduced soliton models associated with 2-letter, 3-state Mealy automata, we formulate the time evolution induced by Mealy automata on bi-infinite configuration spaces. We provide sufficient conditions for the invariance of Bernoulli product measures and derive a criterion for the invariance of two-sided space-homogeneous Markov distributions. We then apply these general results to three soliton models, which can be interpreted as variants of the box-ball system (BBS). For two of these models, BBS-S(2) and BBS-V(2), we prove that Bernoulli product measures are invariant. For the remaining model, BBS-C(2), we establish a more general result: the invariance of two-sided space-homogeneous Markov distributions, which include Bernoulli product measures as a special case. Furthermore, for all three models, we compute the phase shift associated with the interaction of two solitons, as well as the velocity of an isolated soliton. Although the latter has already been studied previously, both quantities constitute fundamental characteristics for understanding the generalized hydrodynamics of these systems. These results provide a foundation for the study of invariant measures, generalized Gibbs ensembles, and generalized hydrodynamic behavior in Mealy-automaton soliton systems.
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Tuesday 7 July

Probability · Cross-listed from math.OC

Jacobi-like relative value iteration algorithms for ergodic risk-sensitive control of Markov chains

We propose a Jacobi-like relative value iteration (RVI) algorithm and a Gauss-Seidel-like implementation for the ergodic risk-sensitive control (ERSC) problem of a controlled discrete time Markov chain (DTMC) on a finite state space. Under the assumption that the DTMC is irreducible and recurrent under every stationary Markov policy, we prove that the iterates of the proposed RVI algorithms converge at a geometric rate. The main challenge stems from the multiplicative structure of the ERSC cost criterion and the associated Bellman-like operators, which prevents us from adapting the analogous global contraction and bi-Lipschitz continuity properties that underlie the proof of convergence in the average cost setting. We overcome this by establishing local contraction properties for the risk-sensitive Bellman-like operators and a local bi-Lipschitz continuity property for their fixed points, and use these properties to show the iterates converge geometrically. We conclude by implementing our proposed RVI algorithms on two examples: service effort control for a single-server queue of finite capacity, and maximizing the exit rate from a finite domain (on a graph).
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Probability

Mixing of Glauber Dynamics on High Overlap Gibbs Measures

We show fast mixing of Glauber dynamics for certain quadratic Gibbs measures with large external fields. The main ingredient is an overlap condition that allows us to control correlation matrices uniformly over all pinnings, by controlling norms of small submatrices of the interaction matrix. Using stochastic localization, we then obtain a lower bound on the spectral gap and, consequently, polynomial-time mixing of Glauber dynamics. As a direct application, we consider the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model, whose interaction matrix is a scaled GOE matrix. For this model, we show that for any fixed finite inverse temperature $\beta$, there exists a strength of external field $\theta$, not depending on the size of the system, for which Glauber dynamics mixes in polynomial time (with high probability on the draw of the interaction matrix).
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Probability

On the smallest singular value of the product of random and deterministic matrices

Let $A=(a_{ij})$ be an $n\times n$ real-valued random matrix with independent, mean-zero, variance-one entries whose fourth moments are uniformly at most $K$. Suppose that there exists $\kappa \in (0, 1)$ such that the entries of $A$ satisfy $$ \max_{i,j}\sup_{u \in \mathbb{R}} \mathbb{P}(\lvert a_{ij} - u\rvert < 1) \le \kappa. $$ We prove that there are constants $c,C>0$, depending only on $K$ and $\kappa$, such that for every fixed invertible $n\times n$ matrix $M$ and every $\varepsilon\ge0$, $$ \mathbb{P}!\left(s_{\min}(MA) \le \frac{\varepsilon}{\lVert M^{-1}\rVert_{\mathrm{HS}}}\right) \le C\varepsilon + e^{-cn}. $$ In the Gaussian case, we also show that the above estimate is sharp in the sense that $\mathbb{E}[s_{\min}(MA)]\asymp \lVert M^{-1}\rVert_{\mathrm{HS}}^{-1}.$
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Probability

Regularization and Asymptotic Behaviour of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck Evolution Operators in Infinite Dimension

We are concerned with the properties of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck evolution operators acting on functions defined in a Hilbert space and p-integrable with respect to a suitable Gaussian measure. These operators provide solutions to the infinite dimensional, non-autonomous backward Kolmogorov equation. The first part of the paper focuses on some general regularization properties, while the second part carries on a deep analysis of the asymptotic behaviour in the periodic case. In particular, we identify the optimal convergence rate of the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck operator and we give an optimality criterion depending only on the drift term of the Kolmogorov equation.
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Probability · Cross-listed from math.FA

Stable Phase Retrieval for Spans of Independent Random Variables

We prove that, after $L^2$ normalization, stable phase retrieval holds over the $L^2$-spans of independent real-valued centered random variables if and only if all but possibly one coordinate satisfies a uniform two-sided $L^1$ bound. This provides a complete characterization of stable phase retrieval for such subspaces, building upon the pioneering work of Calderbank–Daubechies–Freeman–Freeman and confirming the conjectured characterization communicated to us by those authors. We provide two different proofs of this fact, both based on a decomposition of the $\ell^2$-coefficients of each random variable. The first is a compactness proof, which makes use of the infinite divisibility of limit laws of tail sums. The second is a quantitative proof, which substitutes the compactness step with an explicit dichotomy based on anticoncentration estimates of Sperner type. This latter proof was partially LLM generated based on the ideas in the first proof and a considerable amount of guidance by the authors. An autoformalization of our main result in Lean 4 is also provided, following the ideas in the quantitative proof.
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All authors Pedro Abdalla, Jaume de Dios Pont, João P. G. Ramos, Mitchell A. Taylor

Probability · Cross-listed from stat.ML

Fast determinantal sampling on general spaces and diffusion geometry

Determinantal point processes have recently emerged as a kernel-based alternative to standard independent sampling for constructing efficient minibatches, coresets, and other compact representations of large-scale datasets. In particular, sampling mechanisms based on DPPs are believed to demonstrate better approximation properties compared to classical i.i.d. samplers, even at the scale of the exponent. One of the key strengths of DPP based samplers is that they can be deployed over very general spaces, in contrast to more classical sampling methods beyond i.i.d. which tend to work in very well-structured settings, principally Euclidean spaces. In this work, we establish explicit rate guarantees for determinantal sampling in spaces that extend far beyond known Euclidean setups, focusing on spectral kernels obtained from eigenspaces of naturally associated Laplacian and other Markov diffusion operators. This includes, in particular, Riemannian manifolds and weighted networks. In determinantal sampling from compact Riemannian manifolds, we establish sampling rates that automatically pick up the intrinsic dimensionality $d_{\text{int}}$ of the underlying manifold. In the setting of networks, we investigate DPP-based samplers on the celebrated k-nearest neighbour graphs, as well as weighted random geometric graphs, and demonstrate a similar improved dependence on the intrinsic dimensionality of the data. Overall, our approach achieves guarantees of $\big(\text{sample size}\big)^{-\frac{1}{2}-\frac{1}{2d_{\text{int}}}}$ that match known rates on Euclidean spaces of comparable dimension. In terms of techniques, we connect to the celebrated Weyl's Law for manifold spectra, and leverage tools from the theory of Markov diffusions and Dirichlet forms as well as certain ingredients from the theory of pseudodifferential operators, which could be of independent interest in this area.
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