English

Differing averaged and quenched large deviations for random walks in random environments in dimensions two and three

Probability 2015-05-14 v2

Abstract

We consider the quenched and the averaged (or annealed) large deviation rate functions IqI_q and IaI_a for space-time and (the usual) space-only RWRE on Zd\mathbb{Z}^d. By Jensen's inequality, IaIqI_a\leq I_q. In the space-time case, when d3+1d\geq3+1, IqI_q and IaI_a are known to be equal on an open set containing the typical velocity ξo\xi_o. When d=1+1d=1+1, we prove that IqI_q and IaI_a are equal only at ξo\xi_o. Similarly, when d=2+1, we show that Ia<IqI_a<I_q on a punctured neighborhood of ξo\xi_o. In the space-only case, we provide a class of non-nestling walks on Zd\mathbb{Z}^d with d=2 or 3, and prove that IqI_q and IaI_a are not identically equal on any open set containing ξo\xi_o whenever the walk is in that class. This is very different from the known results for non-nestling walks on Zd\mathbb{Z}^d with d4d\geq4.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0910.1169,
  title  = {Differing averaged and quenched large deviations for random walks in random environments in dimensions two and three},
  author = {Atilla Yilmaz and Ofer Zeitouni},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0910.1169},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

21 pages. In this revised version, we corrected our computation of the variance of $D(B_1)$ for $d=2+1$ (page 11 of the old version, after (2.31)). We also added details explaining precisely how the space-only case is handled, by mapping the appropriate objects to the space-time setup (see pages 14--17 in the new version). Accepted for publication in Communications in Mathematical Physics.

R2 v1 2026-06-21T13:55:05.041Z