The Random Walk Pinning Model I: Lower bounds on the free energy and disorder irrelevance

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Berger, Quentin, Lacoin, Hubert
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Berger, Quentin
Lacoin, Hubert
author_facet Berger, Quentin
Lacoin, Hubert
contents The Random Walk Pinning Model (RWPM) is a statistical mechanics model in which the trajectory of a continuous time random walk $X=(X_t)_{t\geq 0}$ is rewarded according to the time it spends together with a moving catalyst. More specifically for a system of size $T$, the law of $X$ is tilted by the Gibbs factor $\exp(β\int_0^T \mathbf{1}_{\{X_t=Y_t\}} dt)$, where $β\geq 0$ is the inverse temperature. The moving catalyst $Y=(Y_t)_{t\ge 0}$ is given by the quenched trajectory of a second continuous-time random walk, with the same distribution as $X$ but a different jump rate $ρ\geq 0$, interpreted as the disorder intensity. For fixed $ρ\ge 0$, the RWPM undergoes a localization phase transition when $β$ passes a critical value $β_c(ρ)$. We thoroughly investigate the question of disorder relevance to determine whether a disorder of arbitrarily small intensity affects the features of the phase transition. We focus our analysis on the case of transient $γ$-stable walks on $\mathbb{Z}$, i.e. random walks in the domain of attraction of a $γ$-stable law, with $γ\in (0,1)$. In the present paper, we derive lower bounds for the free energy, which results in either a proof of disorder irrelevance or upper bounds on the critical point shift. More precisely, when $γ\in(\frac23,1)$, our estimates imply that that $β_c(ρ)=β_c(0)$ and $ρ$ is small, showing disorder irrelevance. When $γ\in (0,\frac23]$ our companion paper shows that $β_c(ρ)>β_c(0)$ for every $ρ>0$, showing disorder relevance: we derive here upper bounds on the critical point shift, which are matching the lower bounds obtained in our companion paper. For good measure, our analysis also includes the case of the simple random walk of $\mathbb{Z}^d$ (for $d\ge 3$) for which no upper bound on the critical point shift was previously known.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_08789
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Random Walk Pinning Model I: Lower bounds on the free energy and disorder irrelevance
Berger, Quentin
Lacoin, Hubert
Probability
Mathematical Physics
82B44, 60K35, 82D60
The Random Walk Pinning Model (RWPM) is a statistical mechanics model in which the trajectory of a continuous time random walk $X=(X_t)_{t\geq 0}$ is rewarded according to the time it spends together with a moving catalyst. More specifically for a system of size $T$, the law of $X$ is tilted by the Gibbs factor $\exp(β\int_0^T \mathbf{1}_{\{X_t=Y_t\}} dt)$, where $β\geq 0$ is the inverse temperature. The moving catalyst $Y=(Y_t)_{t\ge 0}$ is given by the quenched trajectory of a second continuous-time random walk, with the same distribution as $X$ but a different jump rate $ρ\geq 0$, interpreted as the disorder intensity. For fixed $ρ\ge 0$, the RWPM undergoes a localization phase transition when $β$ passes a critical value $β_c(ρ)$. We thoroughly investigate the question of disorder relevance to determine whether a disorder of arbitrarily small intensity affects the features of the phase transition. We focus our analysis on the case of transient $γ$-stable walks on $\mathbb{Z}$, i.e. random walks in the domain of attraction of a $γ$-stable law, with $γ\in (0,1)$. In the present paper, we derive lower bounds for the free energy, which results in either a proof of disorder irrelevance or upper bounds on the critical point shift. More precisely, when $γ\in(\frac23,1)$, our estimates imply that that $β_c(ρ)=β_c(0)$ and $ρ$ is small, showing disorder irrelevance. When $γ\in (0,\frac23]$ our companion paper shows that $β_c(ρ)>β_c(0)$ for every $ρ>0$, showing disorder relevance: we derive here upper bounds on the critical point shift, which are matching the lower bounds obtained in our companion paper. For good measure, our analysis also includes the case of the simple random walk of $\mathbb{Z}^d$ (for $d\ge 3$) for which no upper bound on the critical point shift was previously known.
title The Random Walk Pinning Model I: Lower bounds on the free energy and disorder irrelevance
topic Probability
Mathematical Physics
82B44, 60K35, 82D60
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.08789