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Mitia Duerinckx

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Published work

15 published item(s)

preprint2026arXiv

Kinetic theory for Transformers and the lost-in-the-middle phenomenon

We study causal self-attention dynamics -- a toy model for decoder Transformers -- which we interpret as a non-exchangeable interacting particle system. Adapting cumulant expansions to the triangular causal dependency structure of the model, and appealing to non-hierarchical methods to estimate correlations using Glauber calculus, we prove a quantitative mean-field limit result and a next-order characterization of correlations. For iid uniformly distributed tokens, the limiting correlation equation can be solved in closed form and we obtain a rigorous explanation of the empirically observed \emph{lost-in-the-middle} phenomenon: the token retrieval profile, as a function of the source position in the prompt, is $\mathsf{U}$-shaped, with primacy, recency, and a unique interior minimum under an explicit smallness condition.

preprint2022arXiv

A short proof of Gevrey regularity for homogenized coefficients of the Poisson point process

In this short note we capitalize on and complete our previous results on the regularity of the homogenized coefficients for Bernoulli perturbations by addressing the case of the Poisson point process, for which the crucial uniform local finiteness assumption fails. In particular, we strengthen the qualitative regularity result first obtained in this setting by the first author to Gevrey regularity of order~2. The new ingredient is the independence of Poisson point processes, in a form recently used by Giunti, Gu, Mourrat, and Nitzschner.

preprint2022arXiv

Approximate normal forms via Floquet-Bloch theory: Nehorosev stability for linear waves in quasiperiodic media

We study the long-time behavior of the Schr{ö}dinger flow in a heterogeneous potential $λ$V with small intensity 0<$λ$$\ll$1 (or alternatively at high frequencies). The main new ingredient, which we introduce in the general setting of a stationary ergodic potential, is an approximate stationary Floquet--Bloch theory that is used to put the perturbed Schr{ö}dinger operator into approximate normal form. We apply this approach to quasiperiodic potentials and establish a Nehoro{\v s}ev-type stability result. In particular, this ensures asymptotic ballistic transport up to a stretched exponential timescale exp($λ$--1/s) for some s>0. More precisely, the approximate normal form leads to an accurate long-time description of the Schr{ö}dinger flow as an effective unitary correction of the free flow. The approach is robust and generically applies to linear waves. For classical waves, for instance, this allows to extend diffractive geometric optics to quasiperiodically perturbed media.

preprint2022arXiv

Cherenkov radiation with massive bosons and quantum friction

This work is devoted to several translation-invariant models in non-relativistic quantum field theory (QFT), describing a non-relativistic quantum particle interacting with a quantized relativistic field of bosons. In this setting, we aim at the rigorous study of Cherenkov radiation or friction effects at small disorder, which amounts to the metastability of the embedded mass shell of the free non-relativistic particle when the coupling to the quantized field is turned on. Although this problem is naturally approached by means of Mourre's celebrated commutator method, important regularity issues are known to be inherent to QFT models and restrict the application of this method. In this perspective, we introduce a novel non-standard construction procedure for Mourre conjugate operators, which differs from second quantization and allows to circumvent regularity issues. To show its versatility, we apply this construction to the Nelson model with massive bosons, to Fröhlich's polaron model, and to a quantum friction model with massless bosons introduced by Bruneau and De Bièvre: for each of these examples, we improve on previous results.

preprint2022arXiv

Continuum percolation in stochastic homogenization and the effective viscosity problem

This contribution is concerned with the effective viscosity problem, that is, the homogenization of the steady Stokes system with a random array of rigid particles, for which the main difficulty is the treatment of close particles. Standard approaches in the literature have addressed this issue by making moment assumptions on interparticle distances. Such assumptions however prevent clustering of particles, which is not compatible with physically-relevant particle distributions. In this contribution, we take a different perspective and consider moment bounds on the size of clusters of close particles. On the one hand, assuming such bounds, we construct correctors and prove homogenization (using a variational formulation and $Γ$-convergence to avoid delicate pressure issues). On the other hand, based on subcritical percolation techniques, these bounds are shown to hold for various mixing particle distributions with nontrivial clustering. As a by-product of the analysis, we also obtain similar homogenization results for compressible and incompressible linear elasticity with unbounded random stiffness.

preprint2022arXiv

Effective viscosity of semi-dilute suspensions

This review is devoted to the large-scale rheology of suspensions of rigid particles in Stokes fluid. After describing recent results on the definition of the effective viscosity of such systems in the framework of homogenization theory, we turn to our new results on the asymptotic expansion of the effective viscosity in the dilute regime. This includes an optimal proof of Einstein's viscosity formula for the first-order expansion, as well as the continuation of this expansion to higher orders. The essential difficulty originates in the long-range nature of hydrodynamic interactions: suitable renormalizations are needed and are captured by means of diagrammatic expansions.

preprint2022arXiv

On Einstein's effective viscosity formula

In his PhD thesis, Einstein derived an explicit first-order expansion for the effective viscosity of a Stokes fluid with a suspension of small rigid particles at low density. His formal derivation relied on two implicit assumptions: (i) there is a scale separation between the size of the particles and the observation scale; and (ii) at first order, dilute particles do not interact with one another. In mathematical terms, the first assumption amounts to the validity of a homogenization result defining the effective viscosity tensor, which is now well understood. Next, the second assumption allowed Einstein to approximate this effective viscosity at low density by considering particles as being isolated. The rigorous justification is, in fact, quite subtle as the effective viscosity is a nonlinear nonlocal function of the ensemble of particles and as hydrodynamic interactions have borderline integrability. In the present memoir, we establish Einstein's effective viscosity formula in the most general setting. In addition, we pursue the low-density expansion to arbitrary order in form of a cluster expansion, where the summation of hydrodynamic interactions crucially requires suitable renormalizations. In particular, we justify a celebrated result by Batchelor and Green on the second-order correction and we explicitly describe all higher-order renormalizations for the first time. In some specific settings, we further address the summability of the whole cluster expansion. Our approach relies on a combination of combinatorial arguments, variational analysis, elliptic regularity, probability theory, and diagrammatic integration methods.

preprint2021arXiv

Eigenvalue fluctuations for random elliptic operators in homogenization regime

This work is devoted to the asymptotic behavior of eigenvalues of an elliptic operator with rapidly oscillating random coefficients on a bounded domain with Dirichlet boundary conditions. A sharp convergence rate is obtained for isolated eigenvalues towards eigenvalues of the homogenized problem, as well as a quantitative two-scale expansion result for eigenfunctions. Next, a quantitative central limit theorem is established for eigenvalue fluctuations; more precisely, a pathwise characterization of eigenvalue fluctuations is obtained in terms of the so-called homogenization commutator, in parallel with the recent fluctuation theory for the solution operator.

preprint2021arXiv

Sedimentation of random suspensions and the effect of hyperuniformity

This work is concerned with the mathematical analysis of the bulk rheology of random suspensions of rigid particles settling under gravity in viscous fluids. Each particle generates a fluid flow that in turn acts on other particles and hinders their settling. In an equilibrium perspective, for a given ensemble of particle positions, we analyze both the associated mean settling speed and the velocity fluctuations of individual particles. In the 1970s, Batchelor gave a proper definition of the mean settling speed, a 60-year-old open problem in physics, based on the appropriate renormalization of long-range particle contributions. In the 1980s, a celebrated formal calculation by Caflisch and Luke suggested that velocity fluctuations in dimension $d=3$ should diverge with the size of the sedimentation tank, contradicting both intuition and experimental observations. The role of long-range self-organization of suspended particles in form of hyperuniformity was later put forward to explain additional screening of this divergence in steady-state observations. In the present contribution, we develop the first rigorous theory that allows to justify all these formal calculations of the physics literature.

preprint2016arXiv

Mean-field limits for some Riesz interaction gradient flows

This paper is concerned with the mean-field limit for the gradient flow evolution of particle systems with pairwise Riesz interactions, as the number of particles tends to infinity. Based on a modulated energy method, using regularity and stability properties of the limiting equation, as inspired by the work of Serfaty in the context of the Ginzburg-Landau vortices, we prove a mean-field limit result in dimensions 1 and 2 in cases for which this problem was still open.

preprint2015arXiv

Analyticity of homogenized coefficients under Bernoulli perturbations and the Clausius-Mossotti formulas

This paper is concerned with the behavior of the homogenized coefficients associated with some random stationary ergodic medium under a Bernoulli perturbation. Introducing a new family of energy estimates that combine probability and physical spaces, we prove the analyticity of the perturbed homogenized coefficients with respect to the Bernoulli parameter. Our approach holds under the minimal assumptions of stationarity and ergodicity, both in the scalar and vector cases, and gives analytical formulas for each derivative that essentially coincide with the so-called cluster expansion used by physicists. In particular, the first term yields the celebrated (electric and elastic) Clausius-Mossotti formulas for isotropic spherical random inclusions in an isotropic reference medium. This work constitutes the first general proof of these formulas in the case of random inclusions.

preprint2015arXiv

Resource dependent branching processes and the envelope of societies

Since its early beginnings, mankind has put to test many different society forms, and this fact raises a complex of interesting questions. The objective of this paper is to present a general population model which takes essential features of any society into account and which gives interesting answers on the basis of only two natural hypotheses. One is that societies want to survive, the second, that individuals in a society would, in general, like to increase their standard of living. We start by presenting a mathematical model, which may be seen as a particular type of a controlled branching process. All conditions of the model are justified and interpreted. After several preliminary results about societies in general we can show that two society forms should attract particular attention, both from a qualitative and a quantitative point of view. These are the so-called weakest-first society and the strongest-first society. In particular we prove then that these two societies stand out since they form an envelope of all possible societies in a sense we will make precise. This result (the envelopment theorem) is seen as significant because it is paralleled with precise survival criteria for the enveloping societies. Moreover, given that one of the "limiting" societies can be seen as an extreme form of communism, and the other one as being close to an extreme version of capitalism, we conclude that, remarkably, humanity is close to having already tested the limits.

preprint2015arXiv

Stochastic homogenization of nonconvex unbounded integral functionals with convex growth

We consider the well-travelled problem of homogenization of random integral functionals. When the integrand has standard growth conditions, the qualitative theory is well-understood. When it comes to unbounded functionals, that is, when the domain of the integrand is not the whole space and may depend on the space-variable, there is no satisfactory theory. In this contribution we develop a complete qualitative stochastic homogenization theory for nonconvex unbounded functionals with convex growth. We first prove that if the integrand is convex and has $p$-growth from below (with $p>d$, the dimension), then it admits homogenization regardless of growth conditions from above. This result, that crucially relies on the existence and sublinearity at infinity of correctors, is also new in the periodic case. In the case of nonconvex integrands, we prove that a similar homogenization result holds provided the nonconvex integrand admits a two-sided estimate by a convex integrand (the domain of which may depend on the space-variable) that itself admits homogenization. This result is of interest to the rigorous derivation of rubber elasticity from polymer physics, which involves the stochastic homogenization of such unbounded functionals.

preprint2014arXiv

Maximum likelihood characterization of distributions

A famous characterization theorem due to C.F. Gauss states that the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) of the parameter in a location family is the sample mean for all samples of all sample sizes if and only if the family is Gaussian. There exist many extensions of this result in diverse directions, most of them focussing on location and scale families. In this paper, we propose a unified treatment of this literature by providing general MLE characterization theorems for one-parameter group families (with particular attention on location and scale parameters). In doing so, we provide tools for determining whether or not a given such family is MLE-characterizable, and, in case it is, we define the fundamental concept of minimal necessary sample size at which a given characterization holds. Many of the cornerstone references on this topic are retrieved and discussed in the light of our findings, and several new characterization theorems are provided. Of particular interest is that one part of our work, namely the introduction of so-called equivalence classes for MLE characterizations, is a modernized version of Daniel Bernoulli's viewpoint on maximum likelihood estimation.

preprint2014arXiv

Stochastic noise reduction upon complexification: positively correlated birth-death type systems

Cell systems consist of a huge number of various molecules that display specific patterns of interactions, which have a determining influence on the cell's functioning. In general, such complexity is seen to increase with the complexity of the organism, with a concomitant increase of the accuracy and specificity of the cellular processes. The question thus arises how the complexification of systems - modeled here by simple interacting birth-death type processes - can lead to a reduction of the noise - described by the variance of the number of molecules. To gain understanding of this issue, we investigated the difference between a single system containing molecules that are produced and degraded, and the same system - with the same average number of molecules - connected to a buffer. We modeled these systems using Ito stochastic differential equations in discrete time, as they allow straightforward analytical developments. In general, when the molecules in the system and the buffer are positively correlated, the variance on the number of molecules in the system is found to decrease compared to the equivalent system without a buffer. Only buffers that are too noisy by themselves tend to increase the noise in the main system. We tested this result on two model cases, in which the system and the buffer contain proteins in their active and inactive state, or protein monomers and homodimers. We found that in the second test case, where the interconversion terms are non-linear in the number of molecules, the noise reduction is much more pronounced; it reaches up to 20% reduction of the Fano factor with the parameter values tested in numerical simulations on an unperturbed birth-death model. We extended our analysis to two arbitrary interconnected systems.