The simplest mathematical model of the Brownian motion of physics is the simple, symmetric random walk. This book collects and compares current results — mostly strong theorems which describe the properties of a random walk. The modern problems of the limit theorems of probability theory are treated in the simple case of coin tossing. Taking advantage of this simplicity, the reader is familiarized with limit theorems (especially strong ones) without the burden of technical tools and difficulties. An easy way of considering the Wiener process is also given, through the study of the random walk.Since the first and second editions were published in 1990 and 2005, a number of new results have appeared in the literature. The first two editions contained many unsolved problems and conjectures which have since been settled; this third, revised and enlarged edition includes those new results. In this edition, a completely new part is included concerning Simple Random Walks on Graphs. Properties of random walks on several concrete graphs have been studied in the last decade. Some of the obtained results are also presented.

Stochastic systems provide powerful abstract models for a variety of important real-life applications: for example, power supply, traffic flow, data transmission. They (and the real systems they model) are often subject to phase transitions, behaving in one way when a parameter is below a certain critical value, then switching behaviour as soon as that critical value is reached. In a real system, we do not necessarily have control over all the parameter values, so it is important to know how to find critical points and to understand system behaviour near these points. This book is a modern presentation of the 'semimartingale' or 'Lyapunov function' method applied to near-critical stochastic systems, exemplified by non-homogeneous random walks. Applications treat near-critical stochastic systems and range across modern probability theory from stochastic billiards models to interacting particle systems. Spatially non-homogeneous random walks are explored in depth, as they provide prototypical near-critical systems.

The simplest mathematical model of the Brownian motion of physics is the simple, symmetric random walk. This book collects and compares current results — mostly strong theorems which describe the properties of a random walk. The modern problems of the limit theorems of probability theory are treated in the simple case of coin tossing. Taking advantage of this simplicity, the reader is familiarized with limit theorems (especially strong ones) without the burden of technical tools and difficulties. An easy way of considering the Wiener process is also given, through the study of the random walk.Since the first edition was published in 1990, a number of new results have appeared in the literature. The original edition contained many unsolved problems and conjectures which have since been settled; this second revised and enlarged edition includes those new results. Three new chapters have been added: frequently and rarely visited points, heavy points and long excursions. This new edition presents the most complete study of, and the most elementary way to study, the path properties of the Brownian motion.

This volume contains two of the three lectures that were given at the 33rd Probability Summer School in Saint-Flour (July 6-23, 2003). Amir Dembo’s course is devoted to recent studies of the fractal nature of random sets, focusing on some fine properties of the sample path of random walk and Brownian motion. In particular, the cover time for Markov chains, the dimension of discrete limsup random fractals, the multi-scale truncated second moment and the Ciesielski-Taylor identities are explored. Tadahisa Funaki’s course reviews recent developments of the mathematical theory on stochastic interface models, mostly on the so-called \nabla \varphi interface model. The results are formulated as classical limit theorems in probability theory, and the text serves with good applications of basic probability techniques.

For over half a century, financial experts have regarded the movements of markets as a random walk--unpredictable meanderings akin to a drunkard's unsteady gait--and this hypothesis has become a cornerstone of modern financial economics and many investment strategies. Here Andrew W. Lo and A. Craig MacKinlay put the Random Walk Hypothesis to the test. In this volume, which elegantly integrates their most important articles, Lo and MacKinlay find that markets are not completely random after all, and that predictable components do exist in recent stock and bond returns. Their book provides a state-of-the-art account of the techniques for detecting predictabilities and evaluating their statistical and economic significance, and offers a tantalizing glimpse into the financial technologies of the future. The articles track the exciting course of Lo and MacKinlay's research on the predictability of stock prices from their early work on rejecting random walks in short-horizon returns to their analysis of long-term memory in stock market prices. A particular highlight is their now-famous inquiry into the pitfalls of "data-snooping biases" that have arisen from the widespread use of the same historical databases for discovering anomalies and developing seemingly profitable investment strategies. This book invites scholars to reconsider the Random Walk Hypothesis, and, by carefully documenting the presence of predictable components in the stock market, also directs investment professionals toward superior long-term investment returns through disciplined active investment management.

In addition to its further exploration of the subject of peacocks, introduced in recent Séminaires de Probabilités, this volume continues the series’ focus on current research themes in traditional topics such as stochastic calculus, filtrations and random matrices. Also included are some particularly interesting articles involving harmonic measures, random fields and loop soups. The featured contributors are Mathias Beiglböck, Martin Huesmann and Florian Stebegg, Nicolas Juillet, Gilles Pags, Dai Taguchi, Alexis Devulder, Mátyás Barczy and Peter Kern, I. Bailleul, Jürgen Angst and Camille Tardif, Nicolas Privault, Anita Behme, Alexander Lindner and Makoto Maejima, Cédric Lecouvey and Kilian Raschel, Christophe Profeta and Thomas Simon, O. Khorunzhiy and Songzi Li, Franck Maunoury, Stéphane Laurent, Anna Aksamit and Libo Li, David Applebaum, and Wendelin Werner.

Stochastic processes occur everywhere in the sciences, economics and engineering, and they need to be understood by (applied) mathematicians, engineers and scientists alike. This book gives a gentle introduction to Brownian motion and stochastic processes, in general. Brownian motion plays a special role, since it shaped the whole subject, displays most random phenomena while being still easy to treat, and is used in many real-life models. Im this new edition, much material is added, and there are new chapters on ''Wiener Chaos and Iterated Itô Integrals'' and ''Brownian Local Times''.