Michael Anshelevich

Free martingale polynomials

Abstract In this paper we investigate the properties of free Sheffer systems, which are certain families of martingale polynomials with respect to the free Levy processes. First, we classify such families that consist of orthogonal polynomials; these are the free analogs of the Meixner systems. Next, we show that the fluctuations around free convolution semigroups have as principal directions the polynomials whose derivatives are martingale polynomials. Finally, we indicate how Rotas finite operator calculus can be modified for the free context.

Appell polynomials and their relatives

This paper summarizes some known results about Appell polynomials and investigates their various analogs. The primary of these are the free Appell polynomials. In the multivariate case, they can be considered as natural analogs of the Appell polynomials among polynomials in noncommuting variables. They also fit well into the framework of free probability. For the free Appell polynomials, a number of combinatorial and “diagram” formulas are proven, such as the formulas for their linearization coefficients. An explicit formula for their generating function is obtained. These polynomials are also martingales for free Levy processes. For more general free Sheffer families, a necessary condition for pseudo-orthogonality is given. Another family investigated is that of the Kailath-Segall polynomials. These are multivariate polynomials, which share with the Appell polynomials nice combinatorial properties, but are always orthogonal. Their origins lie in the Fock space representations, or in the theory of multiple stochastic integrals. Diagram formulas are proven for these polynomials as well, even in the q-deformed case.

Orthogonal polynomials with a resolvent-type generating function

The subject of this paper are polynomials in multiple non-commuting variables. For polynomials of this type orthogonal with respect to a state, we prove a Favard-type recursion relation. On the other hand, free Sheffer polynomials are a polynomial family in non-commuting variables with a resolvent-type generating function. Among such families, we describe the ones that are orthogonal. Their recursion relations have a more special form; the best way to describe them is in terms of the free cumulant generating function of the state of orthogonality, which turns out to satisfy a type of second-order difference equation. If the difference equation is in fact first order, and the state is tracial, we show that the state is necessarily a rotation of a free product state. We also describe interesting examples of non-tracial infinitely divisible states with orthogonal free Sheffer polynomials.

Appell polynomials and their relatives II. Boolean theory

The Appell-type polynomial family corresponding . to the simplest non-commutative derivative operator turns out to be connected with the Boolean probability theory, the simplest of the three universal non-commutative probability theories (the other two being free and tensor/classical probability). The basic properties of the Boolean Appell polynomials are described. In particular, their generating function turns out to have a resolvent-type form, just like the generating function for the free Sheffer polynomials. It follows that the Meixner (that is, Sheffer plus orthogonal) polynomial classes, in the Boolean and free theory, coincide. This is true even in the multivariate case. A number of applications of this fact are described, to the Belinschi-Nica and Bercovici-Pata maps, conditional freeness, and the Laha-Lukacs type characterization. A number of properties which hold for the Meixner class in the free and classical cases turn out to hold in general in the Boolean theory. Examples include the behavior of the Jacobi parameters under convolution, the relationship between the Jacobi parameters and cumulants, and an operator model for cumulants. Along the way, we obtain a multivariate version of the Stieltjes continued fraction expansion for the moment generating function of an arbitrary state with monic orthogonal polynomials.

Free Meixner States

Free Meixner states are a class of functionals on non-commutative polynomials introduced in [Ans06]. They are characterized by a resolvent-type form for the generating function of their orthogonal polynomials, by a recursion relation for those polynomials, or by a second-order non-commutative differential equation satisfied by their free cumulant functional. In this paper, we construct an operator model for free Meixner states. By combinatorial methods, we also derive an operator model for their free cumulant functionals. This, in turn, allows us to construct a number of examples. Some of these examples are shown to be trivial, in the sense of being free products of functionals which depend on only a single variable, or rotations of such free products. On the other hand, the multinomial distribution is a free Meixner state and is not a product. Neither is a large class of tracial free Meixner states which are analogous to the simple quadratic exponential families in statistics.

Linearization coefficients for orthogonal polynomials using stochastic processes

Given a basis for a polynomial ring, the coefficients in the expansion of a product of some of its elements in terms of this basis are called linearization coefficients. These coefficients have combinatorial significance for many classical families of orthogonal polynomials. Starting with a stochastic process and using the stochastic measures machinery introduced by Rota and Wallstrom, we calculate and give an interpretation of linearization coefficients for a number of polynomial families. The processes involved may have independent, freely independent or q-independent increments. The use of noncommutative stochastic processes extends the range of applications significantly, allowing us to treat Hermite, Charlier, Chebyshev, free Charlier and Rogers and continuous big q-Hermite polynomials. We also show that the q-Poisson process is a Markov process.

Quantum free Yang–Mills on the plane

Abstract We construct a free-probability quantum Yang–Mills theory on the two dimensional plane, determine the Wilson loop expectation values, and show that this theory is the N = ∞ limit of U ( N ) quantum Yang–Mills theory on the plane. Our model provides an example of a stochastic geometry, motivated by quantum field theory, based on free probability theory.

Generators of some non-commutative stochastic processes

A fundamental result of Biane (Math Z 227:143–174, 1998) states that a process with freely independent increments has the Markov property, but that there are two kinds of free Lévy processes: the first kind has stationary increments, while the second kind has stationary transition operators. We show that a process of the first kind (with mean zero and finite variance) has the same transition operators as the free Brownian motion with appropriate initial conditions, while a process of the second kind has the same transition operators as a monotone Lévy process. We compute an explicit formula for the generators of these families of transition operators, in terms of singular integral operators, and prove that this formula holds on a fairly large domain. We also compute the generators for the

Free evolution on algebras with two states, II

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