On the structure of quasi-stationary competing particle systems (Q2270610)

A competing particle system is a point process on \({\mathbb R}\) whose configurations \(X\) is given by: 1. an ordered sequence of positions, \(X=\{X_i\}_{i\in {\mathbb N}}\subset {\mathbb R}\), with \(X_1\geq X_2\geq \dots\), and 2. a so-called overlap matrix, which is a positive definite quadratic form given by \(Q=\{q_{ij}\}\), with \(q_{ii}=1\) for all \(i\in {\mathbb N}\) (and hence \(|q_{ij}|\leq 1\)). The time evolution is given by correlated increments, \(X_i\mapsto X_i+\Psi(k_i)\), where \(k\) is a Gaussian field on \({\mathbb N}\), independent of \(X\) with covariance given by the matrix \(Q\), and \(\Psi\) is a real function. The paper considers the question of describing the collection of distributions of \((X, Q)\) which are quasi-stationary under the above evolution, in the sense that the joint law of the gaps, \(\{X_i - X_{i+1}\}_{i\in{\mathbb N}}\), and \(q_{ij}\) is invariant under the evolution. In the particular case where \(Q\) is the identity matrix, that is the increments are independent, a quasi-stationary process \(X\) must be a superposition of Poisson processes with exponential density, see [\textit{A. Ruzmaikina} and \textit{M. Aizenman}, Ann. Probab. 33, No. 1, 82--113 (2005; Zbl 1096.60042)]. The Ruelle probability cascades form a broader class of processes, with \(Q\) not limited to the identity matrix. Each process in this collection is quasi-stationary under any dynamics of the above form with an exponentially bounded \(\Psi\), and the class is parameterized by probability measures on \([0,1]\). It was conjectured that this collection includes all processes which are robustly quasi-stationary. The significance of this conjecture for spin glass models is discussed in [\textit{M. Aizenman, R. Sims} and \textit{S. L. Starr}, in: Prospects in mathematical physics. Young researchers symposium of the 14th international congress on mathematical physics, Lisbon, Portugal, July 25--26, 2003. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS). Contemporary Mathematics 435, 1--30 (2007; Zbl 1175.82033)]. The main result of the paper establishes the above conjecture in the case of systems that are quasi-stationary in a robust sense and for which the set of values taken by the covariances of the point \(i\) is finite.