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21 votes
0 answers
578 views

Density of first-order definable sets in a directed union of finite groups

This is a generalization of the following question by John Wiltshire-Gordon. Consider an inductive family of finite groups: $$ G_0 \hookrightarrow G_1 \hookrightarrow \ldots \hookrightarrow G_i \...
Gene S. Kopp's user avatar
  • 2,200
11 votes
0 answers
263 views

Which results in probabilistic group theory generalize from finite groups to compact Hausdorff groups (and which don't)?

Let $G$ be a finite group. It has been shown that: If the probability that two randomly selected elements of $G$ generate an abelian group is greater than $5/8$, $G$ is abelian. If the probability ...
ckefa's user avatar
  • 495
10 votes
0 answers
3k views

Group Theory, Game Theory, a bit of Philosophy and a post in Tao's blog

I've decided to write this post after reading the incredibly beautiful and highly recomended post by Terence Tao http://terrytao.wordpress.com/2007/06/25/ultrafilters-nonstandard-analysis-and-epsilon-...
Valerio Capraro's user avatar
10 votes
0 answers
809 views

Where can I find analogues of combinatorial central limit theorems for other groups

The statement of Hoeffding's combinatorial central limit theorem is as follows: given for each $n$, an $n \times n$ matrix $A = (a_{ij})$, one can consider the random diagonal sum: $$\displaystyle f(\...
John Jiang's user avatar
  • 4,466
8 votes
0 answers
211 views

Superharmonic functions and amenability

Let $G$ be a group generated by a finite set $S$. Let $P$ be a Markov operator defined by the uniform measure on $S$. A function is superharmonic if $Pf\leq f$. Assume that there is a set of non-...
Kate Juschenko's user avatar
7 votes
0 answers
233 views

Growth of spheres in FINITE nilpotent groups - Gaussian approximation (central limit theorem)?

Standard setup. Consider a group and choose generators. Word-metric (or in the other words - distance on the Cayley graph of the group+generators) - converts a group into a metric space, which is ...
Alexander Chervov's user avatar
7 votes
0 answers
743 views

Distribution of the sizes of conjugacy classes in the symmetric group.

This recent question makes me wonder: is there some known limit theorem for the distribution of the sizes of conjugacy classes in the symmetric group $S_n?$ A quick search seems to reveal nothing ...
Igor Rivin's user avatar
  • 96.4k
6 votes
0 answers
301 views

Generating stationary, ergodic random fields on a homogeneous space

Consider a homogeneous space $M$, which for the sake of concreteness, let's take to be $M = \mathbb R^d$. Fix some space $A$, and consider the space of functions $X = C(M,A)$, along with its Borel $\...
Tom LaGatta's user avatar
  • 8,512
6 votes
0 answers
295 views

Is there an idempotent measure on the free LD system?

This is a follow up question to MO question "Idempotent measures on the free binary system?". Let $(A,*)$ be the free binary operation on one generator which satisfies the left self distributive law: ...
Justin Moore's user avatar
  • 3,547
4 votes
1 answer
223 views

Existence of disintegrations for improper priors on locally-compact groups

In wide generality, the disintegration theorem says that Radon probability measures admit disintegrations. I'm trying to understand the case when we weaken this to infinite measures, specifically ...
Tom LaGatta's user avatar
  • 8,512
4 votes
0 answers
266 views

Metrics on finite groups and generalizations of central limit theorems for balls volumes (à la Diaconis-Graham)

In wonderful lectures by P. Diaconis "Group representations in probability and statistics, Chapter 6. Metrics on Groups, and Their Statistical Use" metrics on permutation groups are considered and ...
Alexander Chervov's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
177 views

Is there any probabilistic characterization for generalized solvable groups?

References: This question is inspired by a conjecture of Alon Amit that is solved by Miklós Abért, Nikolay Nikolov and Dan Segal in the following papers: (1) On the probability of satisfying a word in ...
user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
153 views

Metropolis-Hastings sampling as a group action

Suppose that you have a topological space $\Omega \subset \mathbb R^n$ accompanied a measure $\mu$ and you're running an iterative sampling algorithm like Metropolis-Hastings. To sample you choose a ...
Juan Sebastian Lozano's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
100 views

Distributions of random walks on boundaries of balls in hyperbolic metric spaces

Suppose $G$ is a finitely-generated non-elementary hyperbolic group and consider a symmetric random walk on the Cayley graph $\text{Cay}(G,S)$ with generating set $S$. Denote the set of points $B_{\...
user8275's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
150 views

Can we find background noise for every Følner sequence in a countable amenable group?

Let $G$ be a countable amenable group. We consider sequences $(z_g)_{g\in G}$ of complex numbers with $|z_g|=1$ for all $g\in G$. I will say $(z_g)_{g\in G}$ is background noise for a (left-)Følner ...
Saúl RM's user avatar
  • 10.6k
2 votes
0 answers
138 views

Update on Viskov's paper on random processes, Lagrange inversion, and the Heisenberg–Weyl algebra

"A Random Walk with a Skip-Free Component and the Lagrange Inversion Formula" by Viskov presents connections among Lagrange inversion and measures of random Lévy processes. The freely ...
Tom Copeland's user avatar
  • 10.5k
2 votes
0 answers
110 views

Moment of the hitting measure of a subgroup

Given a [finitely generated] group $G$ and a finite generating set $S$, a measure $\mu$ will have finite $\alpha$-moment if $\sum_{g \in G} \mu(g) |g|_S^\alpha$ is finite (where $|g|_S$ is the word ...
ARG's user avatar
  • 4,432
2 votes
0 answers
89 views

Name for a probability density ''symmetrized'' by a permutation group?

Let $p$ be a probability density function over random variable $X$, and $G$ a compact permutation group over the outcomes of $X$. For each $g\in G$, let $p_g$ indicate the probability density ...
Artemy's user avatar
  • 695
2 votes
0 answers
202 views

Random walk on a finite group, converging modulo a function

Let $G$ be a finite group, and let $Q$ be a probability measure on $G$. Suppose that $Q$, as a function on $G$, is supported on a conjugacy class $C$. We denote by $Q^{*k}$ the $k$-fold convolution of ...
Ofir Gorodetsky's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
88 views

Example of action of an infinitely countable group that has important ergodic/statistical property?

I work in probability and I am looking for an important example of action of an amenable countable group in other areas of math for which the (pointwise) ergodic theorem is actually quite important. ...
letta's user avatar
  • 21
2 votes
0 answers
153 views

Reference request for a result on subsets unlikely to be hit by random walks in a group

Suppose we are performing a random walk in a group. More precisely, we have a finite generating set $S$ of a group $G$ and the probability of walking along generator $s$ is given by $\mu(s)$ for some ...
Justin's user avatar
  • 21
1 vote
0 answers
177 views

Building random homeomorphisms of the torus $\mathbb T^2$

In https://arxiv.org/abs/0912.3423, a family of random homeomorphisms of the circle is constructed. Main Question: Can the construction be generalized to higher space dimensions, e.g. to $\mathbb T^2$?...
user490373's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
185 views

A system of linear equations with way too many unknowns — constructing a bivariate distribution from marginals and "the diagonal"

Suppose we are given information about distributions of random permutations $\sigma, \tau : \Omega \to S_n$ as follows: $$p^1_{k,l} = \mathbb P(\sigma(k) = l), p^2_{k',l'} = \mathbb P(\tau(k) = l), p^{...
Stefan Perko's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
489 views

Can we generalize the concept of "characters" in group theory via methods from statistics and probability theory?

$\DeclareMathOperator\Cov{Cov}$Motivation: If $G$ is a finite group and $\phi=X+iY: G\to \mathbb{T}$ is a character of $G$, then $\Cov(X,Y)=0$ where $X$, $Y$ are considered as two real random ...
Ali Taghavi's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
340 views

Random walk on non-abelian free group

Let $F_2$ be the free non-abelian group with generators $a, b\in F_2$. Has the "random walk" where we start with the identity and then multiply it by $a$ or $b$ or $a^{-1}$ or $b^{-1}$ ...
abab's user avatar
  • 11
1 vote
0 answers
311 views

Show that $\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb{F}_p)$ is quasi-random

Terry Tao gives this oblique definition of quasirandom group in his notes 3 $G$ is quasi-random (of order $D$) if all non-trivial unitary representations $\rho: G \to U(H)$ have dimension at least $...
john mangual's user avatar
  • 22.8k
0 votes
0 answers
118 views

A measure on the group of homeomorphisms of $\mathbb T^2$

Let us consider the group of measure-preserving homeomorphisms of $\mathbb T^2$ (with transformations identified if they agree almost everywhere) called $G[\mathbb T^2, \mathcal L^2]$. We shall ...
user490373's user avatar