Brownian Motion in wedges, last passage time and the second arc-sine law

Alain Comtet 1, 2, Jean Desbois 1

Journal of Physics A 36 (2003) L255-L262

We consider a planar Brownian motion starting from $O$ at time $t=0$ and stopped at $t=1$ and a set $F= \{OI_i ; i=1,2,…, n\}$ of $n$ semi-infinite straight lines emanating from $O$. Denoting by $g$ the last time when $F$ is reached by the Brownian motion, we compute the probability law of $g$. In particular, we show that, for a symmetric $F$ and even $n$ values, this law can be expressed as a sum of $\arcsin $ or $(\arcsin)^2 $ functions. The original result of Levy is recovered as the special case $n=2$. A relation with the problem of reaction-diffusion of a set of three particles in one dimension is discussed.

  • 1. Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modèles Statistiques (LPTMS),
    CNRS : UMR8626 – Université Paris XI – Paris Sud
  • 2. IHP,
    Institut Henri Poincaré
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