Spreading speeds in reducible multitype branching random walk (Q691102)

Reducible multitype branching random walks (BRWs) are considered where the type-space is a finite set \(\mathcal{S}\). Given such a process and \(\nu, \sigma \in \mathcal{S}\), denote by \(\operatorname{P}_{\nu}\) the law of the process when started with one initial particle of type \(\nu\) and let \(Z^{(n)}_{\sigma}\) denote the point process of the \(n\)th generation particles of type \(\sigma\). Sufficient conditions are given for \[ \frac{1}{n} \log \big(Z_{\sigma}^{(n)}[na,\infty) \big) \] to converge \(\operatorname{P}_{\nu}\)-a.s.~as \(n \to \infty\) to a deterministic limit (rate) and expressions for the limit are provided. From this, the spreading speed of the BRW is derived: \[ \frac{\mathcal{B}_{\sigma}^{(n)}}{n} \to \Gamma \quad \operatorname{P}_{\nu} \text{-a.s.}, \] where \(\mathcal{B}_{\sigma}^{(n)} := \sup\{z: z \text{ a point of } Z_{\sigma}^{(n)}\}\) and \(\Gamma\) is a function of the rate. An interesting phenomenon is contained in the results of the paper, namely, that the spreading speed of reducible multitype BRWs can be strictly larger than the spreading speeds of the corresponding irreducible BRWs.