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Let $E_{+}$ and $E_{-}$ denote positive and negative real part at the circular exit. On $\{S<T(r)\}$, reflect the portion of the planar Brownian motion after $S$ by $z\mapsto -\overline{z}$. This reflection fixes the imaginary axis and preserves distances from the origin. The Strong Markov property and reflection symmetry show that the resulting path has the same law, its circular exit time is unchanged, and $E_{+}$ is exchanged with $E_{-}$. ThereforeAn exit with negative real part must first cross the imaginary axis. An exit before $S$ has positive real part. The two points $ir,-ir$ have zero circular exit probability, since circular harmonic measure has no atoms. HenceSubtracting provesThis is the reflection identity for Brownian exit from a half-disc.

The construction is well defined. Since $D$ is contained in a ball, its Brownian exit time is finite almost surely: at successive integer times there is a fixed positive probability that the next independent unit-time Brownian motion increment has length greater than the ball's diameter, forcing an exit. The survival probability is therefore bounded by a geometric sequence. Path continuity gives $B_{{\tau }_D}\in \partial D$. Thus the bounded Dirichlet boundary data give a bounded Borel function $u$ on $D$.

For interior harmonicity, fix a ball with closure in $D$, centred at $x$, and let $\sigma$ be its Brownian exit time. The Strong Markov property, followed by the tower property of conditional expectation, givesThe orthogonal invariance of Brownian motion makes $B_{\sigma }$ uniform on the boundary sphere. Hence $u$ has the spherical mean value property for harmonic functions for every such ball. A locally bounded Borel function with this property is smooth and harmonic: integrating the spherical averages against any smooth radial mollifier gives $u=u\ast \rho$ locally, which first proves smoothness; the mean value property for harmonic functions then implies $\Delta u=0$.

For the boundary limit at $\xi$, choose the harmonic barrier for the Dirichlet problem $h_{\xi }$ from (i). The Itô formula, localized inside $D$, makes $h_{\xi }(B_{t\wedge {\tau }_D})$ a bounded martingale. Compact localization and the bounded convergence theorem, first to the exit and then as $t\to \infty$, yieldFor $\epsilon >0$, if $\partial D\setminus B(\xi ,\epsilon )$ is nonempty, compactness and barrier positivity giveIf that boundary subset is empty, the probability is already zero. ThereforeFirst let $x\to \xi$ and then $\epsilon \downarrow 0$. The continuity of the Dirichlet boundary data proves $u(x)\to f(\xi )$.

Finally, the difference of two continuous solutions is a harmonic function vanishing on the boundary. The maximum principle for harmonic functions on the bounded domain gives that it is zero. Thus the Kakutani solution of the Dirichlet problem exists, attains every prescribed boundary value, and is unique.

Let $T_0=0$ and let $T_{r+1}$ be the first visit to $i$ strictly after $T_r$, with $T_{r+1}=\infty$ if there is none. Put $q={\mathbb{P}}_i(T_1<\infty )$. The Strong Markov property at each finite first return time gives, by induction,The number of visits, including time zero, is $N={\sum }_{r\ge 0}{1}_{\{T_r<\infty \}}={\sum }_{n\ge 0}{1}_{\{X_n=i\}}$. By Tonelli theorem for nonnegative terms,If $q<1$, this geometric series is $1/(1-q)$, and $1-q$ is the probability of never returning. If $q=1$, every term of the final series is one and both sides are infinite. Thuswith the prescribed infinite-value convention. This covers both transient states and recurrent states.

A finite original exit time alone does not imply that the integral defining the conformal Brownian clock is finite. To establish this, let $\psi ={\varphi }^{-1}$. On the event $\{\tilde{T}=\infty \}$, the Brownian path of part (a) lives forever in $D^{\prime }$, while its inverse clock satisfiesChoose a closed disc $C$ compactly contained in $D^{\prime }$. Its radius may be decreased so that $|{\psi }^{\prime }{|}^2\ge c>0$ on $C$. Recurrence of planar Brownian motion, together with the Strong Markov property, gives infinite total Brownian occupation time in $C$: return repeatedly to a smaller concentric disc, and use the fixed positive probability of remaining in $C$ for a fixed positive duration. The successive trials imply infinitely many such durations. This is the same mechanism as the divergence of a positive planar Brownian occupation integral.

Hence, on any infinite-lifetime Brownian path,This contradicts $\tau (t)<T<\infty$. Thus $\tilde{T}$ is finite almost surely, and equality in law from part (a) gives finite exit from a conformal image of a bounded planar domain:This asserts almost-sure finiteness, not finiteness of the expected exit time.

The vertices visited by a simple symmetric random walk form an integer interval: nearest-neighbour steps cannot skip a vertex. At the stopping time $T_k$, write that interval as $[\ell ,r]$, with $r-\ell +1=k$. The walk is at one of its endpoints, because the $k$th new vertex must extend the earlier interval. This also covers $k=1$, when both endpoints coincide.

The Strong Markov property restarts the walk from this endpoint. Visiting a new vertex is exactly exiting $[\ell ,r]$, or reaching $\ell -1$ or $r+1$. Translate these absorbing boundaries to $0,k+1$. The starting point becomes either $1$ or $k$, so the expected duration of symmetric gambler's ruin is $k$ in both cases. Taking conditional expectations and then expected values gives the expected time to expand a random-walk range:

Let $S_0=0$ and let each increment of the simple symmetric random walk be uniformly chosen from $\{\pm e_1,\pm e_2,\pm e_3\}$. A return requires an even number of steps. In $2n$ steps returning to zero, let $a,b,c$ be the respective numbers of positive steps in the three directions; there must also be $a,b,c$ negative steps, so $a+b+c=n$. Counting step sequences givesThe terms $p_{abc}=n!/(3^{n}a!b!c!)$ form a multinomial distribution, so $\sum p_{abc}^2\le (\max p_{abc})\sum p_{abc}=\max p_{abc}$. The permitted combinatorial inequalities give $\left(\genfrac{}{}{0ex}{}{2n}{n}\right)/4^n\le C_1{n}^{-1/2}$ and ${\max }_{a+b+c=n}{p}_{abc}\le C_2/n$ for $n\ge 1$. The second bound also follows by noting that the largest multinomial coefficient occurs when $a,b,c$ differ by at most one and then applying Stirling formula. ThusTo prove the origin is a transient state, let $q$ be the probability of at least one return after time zero. The Strong Markov property at successive returns gives $\mathbb{P}(N\ge k)=q^k$ for the number $N$ of later returns. Therefore $\mathbb{E}(N+1)={\sum }_j{u}_j$ would be infinite if $q=1$. The bound forces $q<1$, proving that the origin is a transient state. Translation invariance gives the same conclusion at every lattice point. The coordinate walks need not be treated as independent; the counting via multinomial coefficients already incorporates their dependence.

Fix a deterministic $a\ge 0$. By the Strong Markov property at the finite Brownian first-passage time $H_a$, the process ${\tilde{B}}_s=B_{H_a+s}-a$ is a standard Brownian motion started at zero. Such a process takes positive values arbitrarily soon almost surely: for every $\epsilon >0$, the Brownian reflection principle makes its maximum on $[0,\epsilon ]$ have the distribution of $|B_{\epsilon }|$, so the probability that the maximum is zero is zero. Intersecting these events for $\epsilon =1/n$ gives an infimum of positive-crossing times equal to zero. ThereforeThe infimum defining the strict crossing time need not itself be a time when $B_t>a$; continuity gives $B_{T_a}=a$. The quantifier here is fixed-level almost sure equality, not indistinguishability of stochastic processes as the level varies.

Use the usual completed right-continuous Brownian filtration. The strict passage process $(T_a{)}_{a\ge 0}$ is finite at every level on one probability-one event: finiteness at all integer levels from (a) suffices by monotonicity. Also $T_0=0$ almost surely by (b).

For each fixed $a$, $T_a$ is a stopping time with $B_{T_a}=a$. The Strong Markov property shows that the passage times above this level depend on a new independent standard Brownian motion. Thus for $0\le a<b$, $T_b-T_a$ is independent of the past at $T_a$ and has the same law as $T_{b-a}$. Iteration gives independent increments and stationary increments in the level parameter. From (a) and fixed-level equality,For $\lambda ,\eta >0$, this also proves continuity in probability at zero, sinceFinally, with $M_t={\sup }_{s\le t}{B}_s$, we have $T_a=\inf \{t:M_t>a\}$. This strict generalized inverse of a nondecreasing function is right-continuous: if $a_n\downarrow a$, then for any $t>T_a$ we have $M_t>a$, and eventually $M_t>a_n$, which forces $T_{a_n}\le t$. Monotonicity gives the reverse bound. Monotonicity and local finiteness also give finite left limits. Hence $T$ is the Brownian first-passage subordinator, with càdlàg paths.

Now condition on this clock, which is independent of $W$. For a deterministic partition $0=a_0<a_1<\cdots <a_k$, write $\Delta T_j=T_{a_j}-T_{a_{j-1}}$ and $\Delta X_j=W_{T_{a_j}}-W_{T_{a_{j-1}}}$. Conditional on the clock these are independent centered Gaussian increments, with respective variances $\Delta T_j$. ConsequentlyFactorization and dependence only on interval lengths prove independent increments and stationary increments for $X$. For small $h$, $T_h\to 0$ in probability, and independence and continuity of $W$ imply $W_{T_h}\to 0$ in probability. For example, bound its deviation probability by $\mathbb{P}(T_h>\eta )+\mathbb{P}({\sup }_{t\le \eta }|W_t|>\epsilon )$ and then let $h\downarrow 0$ and $\eta \downarrow 0$. Stationary increments give stochastic continuity at every deterministic level. Composition of the continuous path of $W$ with the nondecreasing càdlàg clock gives càdlàg paths for $X$, and $X_0=0$. ThusThis is subordination of a Lévy process. Using strict passage times ensures the required right-continuous path choice, despite their fixed-level equality with the non-strict times.

Under the corrected orthogonality hypothesis, the preceding quadratic variation calculation gives $[X{]}_t=A_t={\int }_0^t{e}^{2B_s}ds$. We justify the needed infinite occupation time of one-dimensional Brownian motion, rather than inferring an infinite integral from recurrent visits alone.

Let $T_0=0$, and recursively let $S_n$ be the first exit of $B$ from $(-1,1)$ after $T_n$, and $T_{n+1}$ its first return to zero after $S_n$. Recurrence of one-dimensional Brownian motion makes these stopping times finite almost surely. The Strong Markov property shows that $D_n=S_n-T_n$ are independent and identically distributed random variables, each strictly positive. Choose $\epsilon >0$ with $\mathbb{P}(D_n\ge \epsilon )>0$. The Borel-Cantelli lemma gives infinitely many such durations and hence ${\sum }_n{D}_n=\infty$ almost surely. These intervals are disjoint, and $|B_s|\le 1$ on each, soThis proves the intended conclusion. Without the orthogonality correction, the printed setup gives instead the more general quadratic variation in the previous part; it does not justify identifying that quantity with $A$. The proof here is explicitly for the corrected setup.

The infinite occupation time of one-dimensional Brownian motion impliesFor a start $x\ne 0$, first wait until $B$ hits zero, which happens in finite time by recurrence of one-dimensional Brownian motion, and apply the Strong Markov property. The repeated exit-and-return argument in Question 4(c) then proves the infinite occupation integral. Since $f\ge C>0$, the Feynman-Kac formula gives $u(t,x)\ge C{\mathbb{E}}_x{e}^{A_t}$. The random variables $e^{A_t}$ increase to infinity almost surely; the monotone convergence theorem therefore yields the intended positive-potential growth from Brownian recurrence:Under global boundedness, no such solution exists when the initial function is bounded below by a positive constant. The PDF prints $C_b^{1,2}({\mathbb{R}}_{+}\times \mathbb{R})$; if the subscript means bounded over the whole product, its hypotheses with $f\ge C>0$ are incompatible, rather than an example of growth within that class. The precise correction is to require $u$ and its indicated derivatives to be bounded on $[0,T]\times \mathbb{R}$ for every finite $T$. The derivation above then gives the requested limit. Already $f\equiv 1$ satisfies the printed initial-data assumption but cannot have a globally bounded classical solution, by this formula. Also the PDF's $u(x,t)$ in this clause reverses the argument order from $u(t,x)$ used in the equation; the limit above keeps the equation's time-first convention.

Use simple random walk on the loopless undirected unweighted graph, with transition probability $1/\mathrm{deg}(x)$ to each graph neighbour, and take $a\ne z$. Set $T_z=\inf \{t\ge 0:X_t=z\}$. Returns to $a$ before visiting $z$ do not end the commute. After its first visit to $z$, stop at the subsequent first visit to $a$, so $\tau =T_z+T_a\circ {\vartheta }_{T_z}$. Count transitions with departure times $0\le t<\tau$, including the final step arriving at $a$. The expected hitting times are finite: in a finite connected graph there is a uniformly positive probability to reach any fixed target within a fixed number of steps, giving a geometric tail bound.

We prove the needed killed-walk occupation voltage identity from its visit balance equation. DefineFor $x\ne z$, counting arrivals before absorption givesHence, for the Graph Laplacian $Lv(x)=\mathrm{deg}(x)v(x)-{\sum }_{y\sim x}v(y)$, we have $Lv(x)=1_{\{x=a\}}$ away from $z$. Since the sum of all Laplacian coordinates is zero, $Lv(z)=-1$. Thus $v$ is the electrical voltage of a unit flow from $a$ to $z$, grounded at $z$, and $v(a)=R_{\mathrm{eff}}(a,z)$.

Construct $w(x)=g_{za}(x)/\mathrm{deg}(x)$ for the opposite killed leg. It satisfies $Lw={\delta }_z-{\delta }_a$ and $w(a)=0$. Therefore $L(v+w)=0$. The harmonic maximum principle on a finite graph makes $v+w$ constant: at a maximum its value equals the average over its graph neighbours, forcing all of them to share that value, and connectedness propagates it. At $a$ the constant equals $R_{\mathrm{eff}}(a,z)$.

For any oriented edge $(x,y)$, each visit to $x$ before the target hit produces a transition to $y$ with conditional probability $1/\mathrm{deg}(x)$. The expected traversals during the first killed leg are therefore $v(x)$, and those during the second leg are $w(x)$ by the Strong Markov property at $T_z$. This proves directed edge occupation in a random-walk commute:In particular, both directions of every unoriented edge have this same expected value, although their counts on an individual commute need not coincide. Summing over the $2|E|$ directed edges also recovers the commute time identity ${\mathbb{E}}_a\tau =2|E|R_{\mathrm{eff}}(a,z)$.

The distinct-terminal convention is necessary for the printed “returns” interpretation. If $a=z$ and $\tau$ is the first positive return, a graph with two graph vertices and one edge gives $S(a,y)=1$ while $R_{\mathrm{eff}}(a,a)=0$. Thus either take $a\ne z$, as intended, or explicitly define the degenerate commute as $\tau =0$. A general nonuniform random walk is not covered by the unweighted simple-walk formula.

Let $r_i$ be the probability of returning to $i$ after its first departure. Transience means $r_i<1$; in particular $q_i>0$. By the Strong Markov property, the number $N$ of visits, including the initial visit, has the geometric distribution $\mathbb{P}(N=n)=(1-r_i)r_i^{n-1}$, $n\ge 1$. The holding times of these visits are independent $\mathrm{Exp}(q_i)$ variables and are independent of the jump-chain return decisions.

For the total occupation time of a continuous-time Markov chain $T_i$ and $s\ge 0$, summing over $N$ givesUniqueness of the Laplace transform identifiesStarting elsewhere adds an atom at zero if the state might never be hit; the purely exponential conclusion uses the specified initial state $i$.

Write $a=\mu /\lambda <1$. The embedded birth-death chain moves upward with probability $\lambda /(\lambda +\mu )$ and downward with probability $\mu /(\lambda +\mu )$ away from zero. The gambler's ruin formula, obtained by solving its two-point difference equation on $\{0,\dots ,N\}$ and then letting $N\to \infty$, gives ${\mathbb{P}}_k(\text{hit }0)=a^k$. Translation gives return probability $a$ from $r+1$ to $r$. From $r-1$ the chain hits $r$ almost surely: before that hit it remains in a finite reflecting interval, from every state of which a uniformly positive finite-step chance of hitting $r$ is available. This also proves that starting at zero it hits each $r\ge 1$ almost surely.

After departure from $r\ge 1$ the return probability is thereforeThe holding rate is $q_r=\lambda +\mu$, so the exponential occupation-time parameter is $q_r(1-r_r)=\lambda -\mu$. Applying the Strong Markov property at the almost-sure first hit givesAt zero the holding rate is $\lambda$ and return probability after departure is $a$, again giving parameter $\lambda -\mu$. From initial state $k$, the expected occupation time at zero is $a^k/(\lambda -\mu )$, since the time is zero unless zero is reached. Averaging over the initial law with probability generating function $G$ yieldsFor $\mu =0$, the interpretation is $a^0=1$, $a^k=0$ for $k>0$, and $G(0)=\mathbb{P}(X(0)=0)$; the same formulas hold.

For a stopping time $T$ of a Brownian filtration, define the reflected stochastic processThe Brownian reflection at a stopping time form of the Brownian reflection principle states that $\hat{B}$ is again standard Brownian motion. If $T=\infty$, leave the path unchanged; the second branch is used only when $T<t$.

For an almost surely finite $T$, the Strong Markov property says that $(B_{T+s}-B_T{)}_{s\ge 0}$ is a fresh Brownian motion independent of ${\mathcal{F}}_T$. Its negative has the same probability distribution, so reflecting the future preserves the full path probability distribution. Allowing $T=\infty$ follows by applying this argument to $T\wedge n$ and restricting to each fixed finite time interval.

Taking $x=y=a$ in (c) and using that $B_t$ has no atom at $a$ givesThis is the distribution function of the Brownian first-passage time; (b) ensures that it is a proper probability distribution. Comparing these distribution functions gives the Brownian scaling identity $T_{ca}\stackrel{d}{=}{c}^2{T}_a$ for $c>0$.

For an integer $n\ge 1$, set $T_0=0$ and successively hit the levels $a,2a,\dots ,na$. The Strong Markov property at these finite stopping times and spatial translation imply thatare independent random variables, each with the probability distribution of $T_a$. Thus, for independent copies $T_a^{(j)}$,ThereforeThe paper's definition is the strictly stable distribution convention, with no centering term, a special case of a stable distribution.

Choose a spanning tree $T$ of $G$, rooted at $a$. A depth-first traversal of a tree gives a deterministic closed walkthat traverses each edge of $T$ once in each direction and visits every vertex. Define stopping times $S_0=0$ andThe simple random walk is at $v_j$ at time $S_j$. All these hitting times have finite mean on the finite connected graph. By the Strong Markov property,The cover time is no larger than $S_{2(n-1)}$. Grouping the summands by the two traversals of each tree edge and applying the commute time identity givesThe effective resistances are measured in the original graph, where each tree-edge pair is adjacent. Part (a) therefore bounds every summand by one, soFor the one-vertex graph, the cover time is zero and the same bound is immediate.

Interpret $P(k)$ in the variance integral as the unsmoothed cosmological density power spectrum of $\delta$. A linear smoothing window gives $P_R(k)=P(k)|\tilde{W}(kR){|}^2$ for the smoothed field; the PDF's description of $P(k)$ as already belonging to ${\delta }_R$ would otherwise count the window twice.

For a scale-free matter power spectrum $P(k)=A{k}^{n_{\mathrm{eff}}}$, substitute $q=kR$ to obtainWhenever the dimensionless integral is finite and nonzero, this proves the scale-free smoothed density varianceThe printed condition $n_{\mathrm{eff}}<3$ is insufficient by itself. For a normalized window with $\tilde{W}(0)=1$, infrared convergence requires $n_{\mathrm{eff}}>-3$. Ultraviolet convergence depends on the filter: a spherical top-hat window function requires $n_{\mathrm{eff}}<1$, a Gaussian filter suppresses every ultraviolet power, and a sharp-k smoothing filter has finite Fourier support. In particular, the monotone relation $R\to \infty \Rightarrow S={\sigma }_R^2\to 0$ requires $n_{\mathrm{eff}}>-3$ in the scale-free model.

At a single variance $S_{\ast }$, the Gaussian random field has ${\delta }_{S_{\ast }}\sim N(0,S_{\ast })$. Thus its endpoint tail isHere $\mathrm{erfc}$ is the complementary error function.

For the crossing probability, the key assumption is independent, symmetric increments as the smoothing scale changes. A sharp-k smoothing filter, $\tilde{W}(kR)=1_{k<1/R}$, supplies this property: decreasing $R$ adds independent Fourier shells of the underlying Gaussian field. Parameterizing their accumulated variance by $S$ gives a Brownian motion with covariance $\min (S,S^{\prime })$. An arbitrary real-space window gives correlated increments and does not justify this argument.

Reflect a trajectory after its first hit of ${\delta }_c$. The Strong Markov property and symmetric future increments preserve its probability, and reflection maps an endpoint below the barrier to one above it. Every endpoint above the barrier has already crossed; the reflected paths give an equally probable set that crossed but ended below. The Brownian reflection principle therefore yields the excursion-set description of halo formation:Its derivative is the Brownian first-passage time densityThe factor of two resolves trajectories that crossed a larger-scale barrier but finish below it on the chosen smaller scale.

Define the halo peak height $\nu ={\delta }_c/{\sigma }_R$. The cumulative probability $\mathcal{P}(>M)$ is a dimensionless mass fraction. With $V_M=M/\bar{\rho }$, its conversion to halo number density givesConsequently the Press-Schechter halo mass function isIt is positive when ${\sigma }_R$ decreases with mass. A chosen mass-radius convention $M\propto R^3$ gives $d\log {\sigma }_R/d\log M=-(n_{\mathrm{eff}}+3)/6$. For a sharp Fourier filter that mass assignment needs a convention, since its real-space kernel is not a localized top-hat volume.

For warm dark matter, the cutoff introduces a new length and invalidates the pure power-law variance scaling near that length. With the same sharp-k filter and $n_{\mathrm{eff}}>-3$, the variance is exactlyThe Brownian walk runs only up to $S_{\max }$ and then stops. The cutoff does not destroy independence of the Fourier shells that are still present. Thus the first-crossing density and derivative mass-function formula remain valid on the invertible part of $S(M)$, using the actual cutoff variance. For $R<k_{\mathrm{WDM}}^{-1}$, $d{\sigma }_R/dM=0$ and this idealized sharp-filter model has no new crossings or new low-mass haloes. Its total collapsed fraction isThis is halo first crossing with a finite variance cutoff: some trajectories never cross, so one must not force the collapsed fraction to one. The uncut power-law abundance cannot be extrapolated to small masses. For other windows, a variance plateau still occurs but the Markov/reflection derivation is not exact; the same mass function is then a modelling approximation, rather than a result established by this calculation.

Let $v_i$ be the vertex $i$ steps from $B$ toward $C$, and let $x_i$ be the mean time to reach $v_{i+1}$ from $v_i$. Part (b) gives $x_0=4n+1$. For $1\le i<n$, first-step analysis at $v_i$ givesbecause a step to $v_{i-1}$ must be followed by a fresh passage of mean $x_{i-1}$ back to $v_i$ before trying again. HenceBy the Strong Markov property, the expected time from $B$ to $C$ is the sum of these successive passage times:Adding the initial mean time $n^2$ from $A$ to $B$ gives

Fix a closed ball $\overline{B}(x,r)\subset D$ and let $\tau$ be its first exit time. By the Strong Markov property, conditioning at $\tau$ givesThe orthogonal invariance of Brownian motion implies that $X_{\tau }$ is uniformly distributed on the sphere $\partial B(x,r)$. HenceThus $\varphi$ has the mean value property on every ball compactly contained in $D$. Since $0\le \varphi \le 1$, the mean-value characterization of harmonic functions yieldsThis function is the harmonic measure of $A$ viewed from $x$.

Planar Brownian motion is recurrent. More explicitly, the planar Brownian annulus hitting probability giveswhen $|x|>1$. Thus the unit disc is hit almost surely from every starting point. Applying the Strong Markov property after each departure and return shows that such returns occur after arbitrarily large times. Therefore