English

Green geometry, Martin boundary and random walk asymptotics on groups

Group Theory 2026-01-28 v4 Metric Geometry Probability

Abstract

We identify a single computationally checkable analytic quantity interlacing Martin boundary collapse, Green geometry, and linear escape for transient random walks on finitely generated groups: the Green-variation functional Δ(S;a,b):=maxxSG(a,x)G(b,x)G(a,x). \Delta(S;a,b):=\max_{x\in\partial S}\frac{|G(a,x)-G(b,x)|}{G(a,x)}. We prove that Δ0\Delta\to0 along exhaustions characterises the strong Liouville property (under mild, verifiable hypotheses on the ``strong Liouville Δ0\Rightarrow \Delta\to0'' direction), turning boundary oscillation estimates for Green kernels into potential-theoretic rigidity. We then give two general criteria for Δ\Delta-vanishing. The first one derives quantitative bounds on Δ\Delta from coarse heat-kernel envelopes at an intrinsic scale together with a Tauberian comparability, covering Gaussian/sub-Gaussian and stable-like regimes; and the second one is purely elliptic: an ``elliptic H\"older exhaustion'' criterion. Conversely, on groups of exponential growth, Δ\Delta fails to decay along balls already under stretched-exponential on-diagonal upper bounds, yielding a quantitative obstruction to strong Liouville. As consequences, trivial Martin boundary forces linear-scale collapse of Green geometry (dG(e,x)=o(x)d_G(e,x)=o(|x|)) and vanishing Green speed (in probability), without any entropy hypothesis. On the non-Liouville side we prove an abundance principle: the existence of a single minimal positive harmonic function at a prescribed growth scale forces infinitely many. Finally, we clarify the role of moment assumptions in speed theory: any linear-speed law of large numbers on a set of positive probability forces EX1<\mathbb E|X_1|<\infty, while on torsion-free nilpotent groups one can have EX1=\mathbb E|X_1|=\infty yet Xn/n0|X_n|/n\to0 in probability.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2405.07688,
  title  = {Green geometry, Martin boundary and random walk asymptotics on groups},
  author = {Mayukh Mukherjee and Soumyadeb Samanta and Soumyadip Thandar},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.07688},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

60 pages. Comments highly appreciated!

R2 v1 2026-06-28T16:25:17.557Z