Probability and Its Applications – serie

The central theme of this book concerns Feynman-Kac path distributions, interacting particle systems, and genealogical tree based models. This re­ cent theory has been stimulated from different directions including biology, physics, probability, and statistics, as well as from many branches in engi­ neering science, such as signal processing, telecommunications, and network analysis. Over the last decade, this subject has matured in ways that make it more complete and beautiful to learn and to use. The objective of this book is to provide a detailed and self-contained discussion on these connec­ tions and the different aspects of this subject. Although particle methods and Feynman-Kac models owe their origins to physics and statistical me­ chanics, particularly to the kinetic theory of fluid and gases, this book can be read without any specific knowledge in these fields. I have tried to make this book accessible for senior undergraduate students having some familiarity with the theory of stochastic processes to advanced postgradu­ ate students as well as researchers and engineers in mathematics, statistics, physics, biology and engineering. I have also tried to give an "expose" of the modem mathematical theory that is useful for the analysis of the asymptotic behavior of Feynman-Kac and particle models.

Point processes and random measures find wide applicability in telecommunications, earthquakes, image analysis, spatial point patterns and stereology, to name but a few areas. The authors have made a major reshaping of their work in their first edition of 1988 and now present An Introduction to the Theory of Point Processes in two volumes with subtitles Volume I: Elementary Theory and Methods and Volume II: General Theory and Structure.Volume I contains the introductory chapters from the first edition together with an account of basic models, second order theory, and an informal account of prediction, with the aim of making the material accessible to readers primarily interested in models and applications. It also has three appendices that review the mathematical background needed mainly in Volume II.Volume II sets out the basic theory of random measures and point processes in a unified setting and continues with the more theoretical topics of the first edition: limit theorems, ergodic theory, Palm theory, and evolutionary behaviour via martingales and conditional intensity. The very substantial new material in this second volume includes expanded discussions of marked point processes, convergence to equilibrium, and the structure of spatial point processes.

This book is about random objects--sequences, processes, arrays, measures, functionals--with interesting symmetry properties.

This second edition presents up-to-date material on the theory of weak convergance of convolution products of probability measures in semigroups, the theory of random walks on semigroups, and their applications to products of random matrices.  In addition, this unique work examines the essentials of abstract semigroup theory and its application to concrete semigroups of matrices.  This substantially revised text includes exercises at various levels at the end of each section and includes the best available proofs on the most important theorems used in a book, making it suitable for a one semester course on semigroups.  In addition, it could also be used as a main text or supplementary material for courses focusing on probability on algebraic structures or weak convergence.  This book is ideally suited to graduate students in mathematics, and students in other fields, such as engineering and the sciences with an interest in probability.  Students in statistics using advanced probability will also find this book useful.

Our basic question is: Given a collection of DNA sequences, what underlying forces are responsible for the observed patterns of variability? To approach this question we introduce and analyze a number of probability models: the Wright-Fisher model, the coalescent, the infinite alleles model, and the infinite sites model. We study the complications that come from nonconstant population size, recombination, population subdivision, and three forms of natural selection: directional selection, balancing selection, and background selection. These theoretical results set the stage for the investigation of various statistical tests to detect departures from "neutral evolution". The final chapter studies the evolution of whole genomes by chromosomal inversions, reciprocal translocations, and genome duplication.Throughout the book, the theory is developed in close connection with data from more than 60 experimental studies from the biology literature that illustrate the use of these results. This book is written for mathematicians and for biologists alike. We assume no previous knowledge of concepts from biology and only a basic knowledge of probability: a one semester undergraduate course and some familiarity with Markov chains and Poisson processes.

In recent years, there has been an upsurge of interest in using techniques drawn from probability to tackle problems in analysis. These applications arise in subjects such as potential theory, harmonic analysis, singular integrals, and the study of analytic functions. This book presents a modern survey of these methods at the level of a beginning Ph.D. student. Highlights of this book include the construction of the Martin boundary, probabilistic proofs of the boundary Harnack principle, Dahlberg's theorem, a probabilistic proof of Riesz' theorem on the Hilbert transform, and Makarov's theorems on the support of harmonic measure.The author assumes that a reader has some background in basic real analysis, but the book includes proofs of all the results from probability theory and advanced analysis required. Each chapter concludes with exercises ranging from the routine to the difficult. In addition, there are included discussions of open problems and further avenues of research.

This book gives a self-contained introduction to the dynamic martingale approach to marked point processes (MPP). Based on the notion of a compensator, this approach gives a versatile tool for analyzing and describing the stochastic properties of an MPP. In particular, the authors discuss the relationship of an MPP to its compensator and particular classes of MPP are studied in great detail. The theory is applied to study properties of dependent marking and thinning, to prove results on absolute continuity of point process distributions, to establish sufficient conditions for stochastic ordering between point and jump processes, and to solve the filtering problem for certain classes of MPPs.

This book presents a large variety of extensions of the methods of inclusion and exclusion. Both methods for generating and methods for proof of such inequalities are discussed. The inequalities are utilized for finding asymptotic values and for limit theorems. Applications vary from classical probability estimates to modern extreme value theory and combinatorial counting to random subset selection. Applications are given in prime number theory, growth of digits in different algorithms, and in statistics such as estimates of confidence levels of simultaneous interval estimation. The prerequisites include the basic concepts of probability theory and familiarity with combinatorial arguments.

Point processes and random measures find wide applicability in telecommunications, earthquakes, image analysis, spatial point patterns, and stereology, to name but a few areas. The authors have made a major reshaping of their work in their first edition of 1988 and now present their Introduction to the Theory of Point Processes in two volumes with sub-titles "Elementary Theory and Models" and "General Theory and Structure". Volume One contains the introductory chapters from the first edition, together with an informal treatment of some of the later material intended to make it more accessible to readers primarily interested in models and applications. The main new material in this volume relates to marked point processes and to processes evolving in time, where the conditional intensity methodology provides a basis for model building, inference, and prediction. There are abundant examples whose purpose is both didactic and to illustrate further applications of theideas and models that are the main substance of the text. Volume Two returns to the general theory, with additional material on marked and spatial processes. The necessary mathematical background is reviewed in appendices located in Volume One. Daryl Daley is a Senior Fellow in the Centre for Mathematics and Applications at the Australian National University, with research publications in a diverse range of applied probability models and their analysis; he is co-author with Joe Gani of an introductory text in epidemic modelling. David Vere-Jones is an Emeritus Professor at Victoria University of Wellington, widely known for his contributions to Markov chains, point processes, applications in seismology.

This book will serve as a reference book for graduate students and researchers in probability theory or partial differential equations who want to learn more about the interplay of these two areas.

Mass transportation problems concern the optimal transfer of masses from one location to another. This first of two volumes will be the definitive reference for researchers in applied probability, operations research, computer science, and mathematical economics.

This is the first comprehensive account of the theory of mass transportation problems and its applications. In volume I, the authors systematically develop the theory of mass transportation with emphasis to the Monge-Kantorovich mass transportation and the Kantorovich-Rubinstein mass transshipment problems, and their various extensions. They discuss a variety of different approaches towards solutions of these problems and exploit the rich interrelations to several mathematical sciences--from functional analysis to probability theory and mathematical economics. The second volume is devoted to applications to the mass transportation and mass transshipment problems to topics in applied probability, theory of moments and distributions with given marginals, queucing theory, risk theory of probability metrics and its applications to various fields, amoung them general limit theorems for Gaussian and non-Gaussian limiting laws, stochastic differential equations, stochastic algorithms and rounding problems. The book will be useful to graduate students and researchers in the fields of theoretical and applied probabilitry, operations research, computer science, and mathematical economics. The prerequisites for this book are graduate level probability theory and real and functional analysis.

Decoupling theory provides a general framework for analyzing problems involving dependent random variables as if they were independent. It was born in the early eighties as a natural continuation of martingale theory and has acquired a life of its own due to vigorous development and wide applicability. The authors provide a friendly and systematic introduction to the theory and applications of decoupling. The book begins with a chapter on sums of independent random variables and vectors, with maximal inequalities and sharp estimates on moments which are later used to develop and interpret decoupling inequalities. Decoupling is first introduced as it applies in two specific areas, randomly stopped processes (boundary crossing problems) and unbiased estimation (U-- statistics and U--processes), where it has become a basic tool in obtaining several definitive results. In particular, decoupling is an essential component in the development of the asymptotic theory of U-- statistics and U--processes. The authors then proceed with the theory of decoupling in full generality. Special attention is given to comparison and interplay between martingale and decoupling theory, and to applications. Among other results, the applications include limit theorems, momemt and exponential inequalities for martingales and more general dependence structures, results with biostatistical implications, and moment convergence in Anscombe's theorem and Wald's equation for U--statistics. This book is addressed to researchers in probability and statistics and to graduate students. The expositon is at the level of a second graduate probability course, with a good portion of the material fit for use in a first year course. Victor de la Pe$a is Associate Professor of Statistics at Columbia University and is one of the more active developers of decoupling

The central theme of this book concerns Feynman-Kac path distributions, interacting particle systems, and genealogical tree based models. This re­ cent theory has been stimulated from different directions including biology, physics, probability, and statistics, as well as from many branches in engi­ neering science, such as signal processing, telecommunications, and network analysis. Over the last decade, this subject has matured in ways that make it more complete and beautiful to learn and to use. The objective of this book is to provide a detailed and self-contained discussion on these connec­ tions and the different aspects of this subject. Although particle methods and Feynman-Kac models owe their origins to physics and statistical me­ chanics, particularly to the kinetic theory of fluid and gases, this book can be read without any specific knowledge in these fields. I have tried to make this book accessible for senior undergraduate students having some familiarity with the theory of stochastic processes to advanced postgradu­ ate students as well as researchers and engineers in mathematics, statistics, physics, biology and engineering. I have also tried to give an "expose" of the modem mathematical theory that is useful for the analysis of the asymptotic behavior of Feynman-Kac and particle models.

This book is about random objects--sequences, processes, arrays, measures, functionals--with interesting symmetry properties.

Our basic question is: Given a collection of DNA sequences, what underlying forces are responsible for the observed patterns of variability? To approach this question we introduce and analyze a number of probability models: the Wright-Fisher model, the coalescent, the infinite alleles model, and the infinite sites model. We study the complications that come from nonconstant population size, recombination, population subdivision, and three forms of natural selection: directional selection, balancing selection, and background selection. These theoretical results set the stage for the investigation of various statistical tests to detect departures from "neutral evolution". The final chapter studies the evolution of whole genomes by chromosomal inversions, reciprocal translocations, and genome duplication.Throughout the book, the theory is developed in close connection with data from more than 60 experimental studies from the biology literature that illustrate the use of these results. This book is written for mathematicians and for biologists alike. We assume no previous knowledge of concepts from biology and only a basic knowledge of probability: a one semester undergraduate course and some familiarity with Markov chains and Poisson processes.

Limit theorems for stochastic processes are an important part of probability theory and mathematical statistics and one model that has attracted the attention of many researchers working in the area is that of limit theorems for randomly stopped stochastic processes.This volume is the first to present a state-of-the-art overview of this field, with many of the results published for the first time. It covers the general conditions as well as the basic applications of the theory, and it covers and demystifies the vast, and technically demanding, Russian literature in detail. A survey of the literature and an extended bibliography of works in the area are also provided.The coverage is thorough, streamlined and arranged according to difficulty for use as an upper-level text if required. It is an essential reference for theoretical and applied researchers in the fields of probability and statistics that will contribute to the continuing extensive studies in the area andremain relevant for years to come.

Decoupling theory provides a general framework for analyzing problems involving dependent random variables as if they were independent. It was born in the early eighties as a natural continuation of martingale theory and has acquired a life of its own due to vigorous development and wide applicability. The authors provide a friendly and systematic introduction to the theory and applications of decoupling. The book begins with a chapter on sums of independent random variables and vectors, with maximal inequalities and sharp estimates on moments which are later used to develop and interpret decoupling inequalities. Decoupling is first introduced as it applies in two specific areas, randomly stopped processes (boundary crossing problems) and unbiased estimation (U-- statistics and U--processes), where it has become a basic tool in obtaining several definitive results. In particular, decoupling is an essential component in the development of the asymptotic theory of U-- statistics and U--processes. The authors then proceed with the theory of decoupling in full generality. Special attention is given to comparison and interplay between martingale and decoupling theory, and to applications. Among other results, the applications include limit theorems, momemt and exponential inequalities for martingales and more general dependence structures, results with biostatistical implications, and moment convergence in Anscombe's theorem and Wald's equation for U--statistics. This book is addressed to researchers in probability and statistics and to graduate students. The expositon is at the level of a second graduate probability course, with a good portion of the material fit for use in a first year course. Victor de la Pe$a is Associate Professor of Statistics at Columbia University and is one of the more active developers of decoupling

This second edition presents up-to-date material on the theory of weak convergance of convolution products of probability measures in semigroups, the theory of random walks on semigroups, and their applications to products of random matrices.  In addition, this unique work examines the essentials of abstract semigroup theory and its application to concrete semigroups of matrices.  This substantially revised text includes exercises at various levels at the end of each section and includes the best available proofs on the most important theorems used in a book, making it suitable for a one semester course on semigroups.  In addition, it could also be used as a main text or supplementary material for courses focusing on probability on algebraic structures or weak convergence.  This book is ideally suited to graduate students in mathematics, and students in other fields, such as engineering and the sciences with an interest in probability.  Students in statistics using advanced probability will also find this book useful.

This book will serve as a reference book for graduate students and researchers in probability theory or partial differential equations who want to learn more about the interplay of these two areas.

This is the first comprehensive account of the theory of mass transportation problems and its applications. In volume I, the authors systematically develop the theory of mass transportation with emphasis to the Monge-Kantorovich mass transportation and the Kantorovich-Rubinstein mass transshipment problems, and their various extensions. They discuss a variety of different approaches towards solutions of these problems and exploit the rich interrelations to several mathematical sciences--from functional analysis to probability theory and mathematical economics. The second volume is devoted to applications to the mass transportation and mass transshipment problems to topics in applied probability, theory of moments and distributions with given marginals, queucing theory, risk theory of probability metrics and its applications to various fields, amoung them general limit theorems for Gaussian and non-Gaussian limiting laws, stochastic differential equations, stochastic algorithms and rounding problems. The book will be useful to graduate students and researchers in the fields of theoretical and applied probabilitry, operations research, computer science, and mathematical economics. The prerequisites for this book are graduate level probability theory and real and functional analysis.

Point processes and random measures find wide applicability in telecommunications, earthquakes, image analysis, spatial point patterns, and stereology, to name but a few areas. The authors have made a major reshaping of their work in their first edition of 1988 and now present their Introduction to the Theory of Point Processes in two volumes with sub-titles "Elementary Theory and Models" and "General Theory and Structure". Volume One contains the introductory chapters from the first edition, together with an informal treatment of some of the later material intended to make it more accessible to readers primarily interested in models and applications. The main new material in this volume relates to marked point processes and to processes evolving in time, where the conditional intensity methodology provides a basis for model building, inference, and prediction. There are abundant examples whose purpose is both didactic and to illustrate further applications of theideas and models that are the main substance of the text. Volume Two returns to the general theory, with additional material on marked and spatial processes. The necessary mathematical background is reviewed in appendices located in Volume One. Daryl Daley is a Senior Fellow in the Centre for Mathematics and Applications at the Australian National University, with research publications in a diverse range of applied probability models and their analysis; he is co-author with Joe Gani of an introductory text in epidemic modelling. David Vere-Jones is an Emeritus Professor at Victoria University of Wellington, widely known for his contributions to Markov chains, point processes, applications in seismology.

Mass transportation problems concern the optimal transfer of masses from one location to another. This first of two volumes will be the definitive reference for researchers in applied probability, operations research, computer science, and mathematical economics.

Point processes and random measures find wide applicability in telecommunications, earthquakes, image analysis, spatial point patterns and stereology, to name but a few areas. The authors have made a major reshaping of their work in their first edition of 1988 and now present An Introduction to the Theory of Point Processes in two volumes with subtitles Volume I: Elementary Theory and Methods and Volume II: General Theory and Structure.Volume I contains the introductory chapters from the first edition together with an account of basic models, second order theory, and an informal account of prediction, with the aim of making the material accessible to readers primarily interested in models and applications. It also has three appendices that review the mathematical background needed mainly in Volume II.Volume II sets out the basic theory of random measures and point processes in a unified setting and continues with the more theoretical topics of the first edition: limit theorems, ergodic theory, Palm theory, and evolutionary behaviour via martingales and conditional intensity. The very substantial new material in this second volume includes expanded discussions of marked point processes, convergence to equilibrium, and the structure of spatial point processes.

Stochastic differential equations play an increasingly important role in modeling the dynamics of a large variety of systems in the natural sciences, and in technological applications. This book is aimed at advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and researchers in mathematics, physics, the natural sciences, and engineering. It presents a new constructive approach to the quantitative description of solutions to systems of stochastic differential equations evolving on well-separated timescales. The method, which combines techniques from stochastic analysis and singular perturbation theory, allows the domains of concentration for typical sample paths to be determined, and provides precise estimates on the transition probabilities between these domains.In addition to the detailed presentation of the set-up and mathematical results, applications to problems in physics, biology, and climatology are discussed.

Stochastic control is one of the methods being used to find optimal decision-making strategies in fields such as operations research and mathematical finance. This book provides a systematic treatment of optimal control methods applied to problems from insurance and investment, complete with detailed proofs. The theory is discussed and illustrated by way of examples, using concrete simple optimisation problems that occur in the actuarial sciences. The problems come from non-life insurance as well as life and pension insurance and also cover the famous Merton problem from mathematical finance.The book is directed towards graduate students and researchers in actuarial science and mathematical finance who want to learn stochastic control within an insurance setting, but it will also appeal to applied probabilists interested in the insurance applications and to practitioners who want to learn more about how the method works.

Stochastic differential equations play an increasingly important role in modeling the dynamics of a large variety of systems in the natural sciences, and in technological applications. This book is aimed at advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and researchers in mathematics, physics, the natural sciences, and engineering. It presents a new constructive approach to the quantitative description of solutions to systems of stochastic differential equations evolving on well-separated timescales. The method, which combines techniques from stochastic analysis and singular perturbation theory, allows the domains of concentration for typical sample paths to be determined, and provides precise estimates on the transition probabilities between these domains.In addition to the detailed presentation of the set-up and mathematical results, applications to problems in physics, biology, and climatology are discussed.

Safety critical and high-integrity systems, such as industrial plants and economic systems can be subject to abrupt changes - for instance due to component or interconnection failure, and sudden environment changes etc. Combining probability and operator theory, Discrete-Time Markov Jump Linear Systems provides a unified and rigorous treatment of recent results for the control theory of discrete jump linear systems, which are used in these areas of application. The book is designed for experts in linear systems with Markov jump parameters, but is also of interest for specialists in stochastic control since it presents stochastic control problems for which an explicit solution is possible - making the book suitable for course use. From the reviews:"This text is very well written...it may prove valuable to those who work in the area, are at home with its mathematics, and are interested in stability of linear systems, optimal control, and filtering." Journal of the American Statistical Association, December 2005

A problem of broad interest - the estimation of the spectral gap for matrices or differential operators (Markov chains or diffusions) - is covered in this book. In particular, it studies a subset of the general problem, taking some approaches that have, up till now, only appeared largely in the Chinese literature. Eigenvalues, Inequalities and Ergodic Theory serves as an introduction to this developing field, and provides an overview of the methods used in an accessible and concise manner. Each chapter starts with a summary and, in order to appeal to non-specialists, ideas are introduced through simple examples rather than technical proofs. In the latter chapters readers are introduced to problems and application areas, including stochastic models of economy. Intended for researchers, graduates and postgraduates in probability theory, Markov processes, mathematical physics and spectrum theory, this book will be a welcome introduction to a growing area of research.