Related papers: Leading All The Way

In a geometric inhomogeneous random graph vertices are given by the points of a Poisson process and are equipped with independent weights following a heavy tailed distribution. Any pair of distinct vertices is independently forming an edge…

We consider a discrete time random walk in one dimension. At each time step the walker jumps by a random distance, independent from step to step, drawn from an arbitrary symmetric density function. We show that the expected positive maximum…

We address prehensile pushing, the problem of manipulating a grasped object by pushing against the environment. Our solution is an efficient nonlinear trajectory optimization problem relaxed from an exact mixed integer non-linear trajectory…

Let $G=(V,E)$ be a $d$-regular graph on $n$ vertices and let $\mu_0$ be a probability measure on $V$. The act of moving to a randomly chosen neighbor leads to a sequence of probability measures supported on $V$ given by $\mu_{k+1} = A…

We investigate crossing path probabilities for two agents that move randomly in a bounded region of the plane or on a sphere (denoted $R$). At each discrete time-step the agents move, independently, fixed distances $d_1$ and $d_2$ at angles…

Consider a 4-player version of Matching Pennies where a team of three players competes against the Devil. Each player simultaneously says "Heads" or "Tails". The team wins if all four choices match; otherwise the Devil wins. If all team…

A random walk on Z^d is excited if the first time it visits a vertex there is a bias in one direction, but on subsequent visits to that vertex the walker picks a neighbor uniformly at random. We show that excited random walk on Z^d, is…

The usual stochastic order and the likelihood ratio order between probability distributions on the real line are reviewed in full generality. In addition, for the distribution of a random pair $(X,Y)$, it is shown that the conditional…

We consider a game played between a hider, who hides a static object in one of several possible positions in a bounded planar region, and a searcher, who wishes to reach the object by querying sensors placed in the plane. The searcher is a…

Let $(G,\mu)$ be a uniformly elliptic random conductance graph on $\mathbb{Z}^d$ with a Poisson point process of particles at time $t=0$ that perform independent simple random walks. We show that inside a cube $Q_K$ of side length $K$, if…

A random walk with counterbalanced steps is a process of partial sums $\check S(n)=\check X_1+ \cdots + \check X_n$ whose steps $\check X_n$ are given recursively as follows. For each $n\geq 2$, with a fixed probability $p$, $\check X_n$ is…

The random walk process in a nonhomogeneous medium, characterised by a L\'evy stable distribution of jump length, is discussed. The width depends on a position: either before the jump or after that. In the latter case, the density slope is…

We consider a random walk in an i.i.d. non-negative potential on the d-dimensional integer lattice. The walk starts at the origin and is conditioned to hit a remote location y on the lattice. We prove that the expected time under the…

In the concurrent graph sharing game, two players, called First and Second, share the vertices of a connected graph with positive vertex-weights summing up to $1$ as follows. The game begins with First taking any vertex. In each proceeding…

Combinatorial/probabilistic models for cross-country dual-meets are proposed. The first model assumes that all runners are equally likely to finish in any possible order. The second model assumes that each team is selected from a large…

We study a fundamental problem in optimization under uncertainty. There are $n$ boxes; each box $i$ contains a hidden reward $x_i$. Rewards are drawn i.i.d. from an unknown distribution $\mathcal{D}$. For each box $i$, we see $y_i$, an…

In a two-player zero-sum graph game the players move a token throughout a graph to produce an infinite path, which determines the winner or payoff of the game. Traditionally, the players alternate turns in moving the token. In {\em bidding…

We study the question, ``For which reals $x$ does there exist a measure $\mu$ such that $x$ is random relative to $\mu$?'' We show that for every nonrecursive $x$, there is a measure which makes $x$ random without concentrating on $x$. We…

We consider a random walk on a homogeneous space $G/\Lambda$ where $G$ is $\mathrm{SO}(2,1)$ or $\mathrm{SO}(3,1)$ and $\Lambda$ is a lattice. The walk is driven by a probability measure $\mu$ on $G$ whose support generates a Zariski-dense…

We pose a new and intriguing question motivated by distributed computing regarding random walks on graphs: How long does it take for several independent random walks, starting from the same vertex, to cover an entire graph? We study the…