Quasi-stationary regime of a branching random walk in presence of an absorbing wall

D. Simon, B. Derrida,

J. Stat. Phys. (2008) 131: 203 ,

https://arxiv.org/abs/0710.3689,

Abstract:

A branching random walk in presence of an absorbing wall moving at a constant velocity v undergoes a phase transition as the velocity $v$ of the wall varies. Below the critical velocity $v_c$, the population has a non-zero survival probability and when the population survives its size grows exponentially. We investigate the histories of the population conditioned on having a single survivor at some final time $T$. We study the quasi-stationary regime for $v<v_c$ when $T$ is large. To do so, one can construct a modified stochastic process which is equivalent to the original process conditioned on having a single survivor at final time $T$. We then use this construction to show that the properties of the quasi-stationary regime are universal when $v o v_c$. We also solve exactly a simple version of the problem, the exponential model, for which the study of the quasi-stationary regime can be reduced to the analysis of a single one-dimensional map.