Consider an age-dependent, single-species branching process defined by a progeny number distribution, and a lifetime distribution associated with each independent particle. In this paper, we focus on the associated inverse problem where one wishes to formally solve for the progeny number distribution or the lifetime distribution that defines the Bellman-Harris branching process. We derive results for the existence and uniqueness (the identifiability) of these two distributions given one of two types of information: the extinction time probability of the entire process (extinction time distribution), or the distribution of the total number of particles at one fixed time. We demonstrate that perfect knowledge of the distribution of extinction times allows us to formally determine either the progeny number distribution or the lifetime distribution. Furthermore, we show that these constructions are unique. We then consider “data” consisting of a perfectly known total number distribution given at one specific time. For a process with known progeny number distribution and exponentially distributed lifetimes, we show that the rate parameter is identifiable. For general lifetime distributions, we also show that the progeny distribution is globally unique. Our results are presented through four theorems, each describing the constructions in the four distinct cases.

Let $K$ be a self-similar set satisfying the open set condition. Following Kaimanovich’s elegant idea, it has been proved that on the symbolic space $X$ of $K$ a natural augmented tree structure $E$ exists; it is hyperbolic, and the hyperbolic boundary $\partial_H X$ with the Gromov metric is H\"older equivalent to $K$. In this paper we consider certain reversible random walks with return ratio $0 < \lambda < 1$ on $(X,E)$. We show that the Martin boundary ${\mathcal M}$ can be identified with $\partial_H X$ and $K$. With this setup and a device of Silverstein, we obtain precise estimates of the Martin kernel and the Na\"im kernel in terms of the Gromov product. Moreover, the Naïm kernel turns out to be a jump kernel satisfying the estimate $\Theta (\xi,\eta) \asymp |\xi-\eta|^{-(\alpha+\beta)}$, where $\alpha$ is the Hausdorff dimension of $K$ and $\beta$ depends on $\lambda$. For suitable $\beta$, the kernel defines a regular non-local Dirichlet form on $K$. This extends the results of Kigami concerning random walks on certain trees with Cantor-type sets as boundaries.

To study arithmetic structures of natural numbers, we introduce a notion of entropy of arithmetic functions, called anqie entropy. This entropy possesses some crucial properties common to both Shannon's and Kolmogorov's entropies. We show that all arithmetic functions with zero anqie entropy form a C*-algebra. Its maximal ideal space defines our arithmetic compactification of natural numbers, which is totally disconnected but not extremely disconnected. We also compute the $K$-groups of the space of all continuous functions on the arithmetic compactification. As an application, we show that any topological dynamical system with topological entropy $\lambda$, can be approximated by symbolic dynamical systems with entropy less than or equal to $\lambda$.

In this paper, we show how under the continuum hypothesis one can obtain an integral representation for elements of the topological dual of the space of functions of bounded variation in terms of Lebesgue and Kolmogorov-Burkill integrals.

In this work we introduce a formulation for a non-local Hessian that combines the ideas of higher-order and non-local regularization for image restoration, extending the idea of non-local gradients to higher-order derivatives. By carefully choosing the weights, the model allows to improve on the current state of the art higher-order method, Total Generalized Variation, with respect to overall quality and particularly close to jumps in the data. In the spirit of recent work by Brezis et al., our formulation also has analytic implications: for a suitable choice of weights, it can be shown to converge to classical second-order regularizers, and in fact allows a novel characterization of higher-order Sobolev and BV spaces.