English

The explicit probability distribution of the sum of two telegraph processes

Probability 2015-06-24 v1

Abstract

We consider two independent Goldstein-Kac telegraph processes X1(t)X_1(t) and X2(t)X_2(t) on the real line R\Bbb R, both developing with finite constant speed c>0c>0, that, at the initial time instant t=0t=0, simultaneously start from the origin 0R0\in\Bbb R and whose evolutions are controlled by two independent homogeneous Poisson processes of the same rate λ>0\lambda>0. Closed-form expressions for the transition density p(x,t)p(x,t) and the probability distribution function Φ(x,t)=Pr{S(t)<x},  xR,  t>0,\Phi(x,t)=\text{Pr} \{ S(t)<x \}, \; x\in\Bbb R, \; t>0, of the sum S(t)=X1(t)+X2(t)S(t)=X_1(t)+X_2(t) of these processes at arbitrary time instant t>0t>0, are obtained. It is also proved that the shifted time derivative g(x,t)=(/t+2λ)p(x,t)g(x,t)=(\partial/\partial t+2\lambda)p(x,t) satisfies the Goldstein-Kac telegraph equation with doubled parameters 2c2c and 2λ2\lambda. From this fact it follows that p(x,t)p(x,t) solves a third-order hyperbolic partial differential equation, but is not its fundamental solution. The general case is also discussed.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1402.6866,
  title  = {The explicit probability distribution of the sum of two telegraph processes},
  author = {Alexander D. Kolesnik},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1402.6866},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

28 pages, 2 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1305.6522