The zero initial condition turns the time Laplace transform of the heat equation into
Decay as selects
The boundary value gives
so
A proportional frailty model specifies
Its population survival function is the Laplace transform of the frailty density,
If , replacing by and by leaves their product, and hence the model, unchanged. The normalization identifies this otherwise arbitrary scale and makes the initial population hazard when .
Taking the Laplace transform in and using the zero initial condition gives
The solution bounded as is
The transformed boundary condition is
so this is the sinusoidally forced heat equation on a half-line. Integrating in gives
Use the principal square root, with a branch cut along the negative real axis. The Bromwich contour is a vertical line to the right of and the branch point . For , close it in the left half-plane, indent around the cut, and let the large semicircle recede. The simple poles at contribute
Hence
On the upper and lower sides of the cut, put ; the two values of are and . Their jump and the opposite contour orientations combine to give
This is precisely Bromwich inversion with a square-root branch cut: the residues produce the permanent periodic response, while the cut integral is the transient that decays with time.
Taking the Laplace transform of the differential equation and using
gives
Hence
Whenever is not an eigenvalue of , the matrix is invertible, and thus
This is the Laplace-transform solution of a constant-coefficient vector ODE.
Set . The given homogeneous solution is , so the preceding formula says
for every initial vector . Equality on every vector gives the matrix identity
on the common domain of convergence and in particular away from the eigenvalues of . This is the Laplace transform of a matrix exponential.
Under the Cameron-Martin theorem for a linear drift, the probability that Brownian motion with drift reaches is
Using the supplied Laplace transform with gives
and hence
This is the survival function of the exponential distribution with rate .
For , the Laplace transform identity
exhibits as an inner product of the feature functions in . More explicitly, for any real and positive ,
Therefore is a positive-semidefinite kernel.
The laplace transform is , and inversion is
where the vertical Bromwich contour lies to the right of all singularities. For it is closed leftwards, and for rightwards, where the exponential decays.
Transforming the PDE and imposing boundedness as gives
with the square root cut conventionally along . Therefore
There are poles at (with cancellation assessed in the complete expression) and a branch point at ; close left for and wrap the cut while including the relevant residues.
Proportional frailty model Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-03
A proportional frailty model has conditional hazard . Its conditional survival function is , so its population survival function is the Laplace transform of the frailty distribution evaluated at .
For on , initially at rest with zero displacement, apply for and keep . A geometric series in the Laplace transform gives
Here is the Heaviside step function, , and only finitely many terms contribute at any finite time. The second step in each pair is a sign-reversed reflection from the fixed endpoint. The formula solves the wave equation classically away from the fronts and distributionally across them; the midpoint is a square wave of period .
For , constant and , on put , with the principal square root, and
These satisfy and the left and right homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions, respectively. The weighted Wronskian gives
The first derivative jumps by , so the resolvent integrates against . Its time Laplace transform interpretation is . The factor records the zero eigenvalue and constant stationary eigenfunction.
Sequential radioactive decay Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
In a chain with distinct decay constants, each population is a linear combination of the exponentials . When two consecutive constants coalesce to , the repeated Laplace-transform pole produces a term proportional to .
For a time Laplace transform parameter with , the spatial characteristic roots satisfy . Exactly one root has negative real part and two have positive real part. Indeed an imaginary root would force to be imaginary. The count is therefore constant on the connected right half-plane; for real , the cubic has one negative real root and a conjugate pair with positive real parts. Repeated roots would satisfy , which again puts on the imaginary axis. Thus is a nonzero holomorphic function in the right half-plane. Only decays at positive spatial infinity.
If is a Lévy process and an independent subordinator, then is a Lévy process. Conditional on the clock, increments of over disjoint clock intervals are independent; averaging over the independent stationary increments of the clock gives the same properties for . If , its characteristic function is . For standard Brownian motion, , so this is the clock's Laplace transform at .
Subordinator 2026-10-05
A subordinator is a Lévy process with nondecreasing paths. Its nonnegative stationary increments have a Laplace transform of the form
where is called its Laplace exponent. Its standard path convention is càdlàg. Subordinators provide random clocks for subordination of a Lévy process.