Let $ \mathcal {B} $ be the class of analytic functions $ f $ in the unit disk $ \mathbb {D}=\{z\in \mathbb {C} : |z|<1\} $ such that $ |f(z)|<1 $ for all $ z\in \mathbb {D} $. If $ f\in \mathcal {B} $ of the form $ f(z)=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }a_nz^n $, then $ \sum _{n=0}^{\infty }|a_nz^n|\leq 1 $ for $ |z|=r\leq 1/3 $ and $ 1/3 $ cannot be improved. This inequality is called Bohr inequality and the quantity $ 1/3 $ is called Bohr radius. If $ f\in \mathcal {B} $ of the form $ f(z)=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }a_nz^n $, then $ |\sum _{n=0}^{N}a_nz^n|<1\;\; \mbox {for}\;\; |z|<{1}/{2} $ and the radius $ 1/2 $ is the best possible for the class $ \mathcal {B} $. This inequality is called Bohr–Rogosinski inequality and the corresponding radius is called Bohr–Rogosinski radius. Let $ \mathcal {H} $ be the class of all complex-valued harmonic functions $ f=h+\bar {g} $ defined on the unit disk $ \mathbb {D} $, where $ h $ and $ g $ are analytic in $ \mathbb {D} $ with the normalization $ h(0)=h^{\prime }(0)-1=0 $ and $ g(0)=0 $. Let $ \mathcal {H}_0=\{f=h+\bar {g}\in \mathcal {H} : g^{\prime }(0)=0\}. $ For $ \alpha \geq 0 $ and $ 0\leq \beta <1 $, let

$$ \begin{align*} \mathcal{W}^{0}_{\mathcal{H}}(\alpha, \beta)=\{f=h+\overline{g}\in\mathcal{H}_{0} : \mathrm{Re}\left(h^{\prime}(z)+\alpha zh^{\prime\prime}(z)-\beta\right)>|g^{\prime}(z)+\alpha zg^{\prime\prime}(z)|,\;\; z\in\mathbb{D}\} \end{align*} $$

be a class of close-to-convex harmonic mappings in $ \mathbb {D} $. In this paper, we prove the sharp Bohr–Rogosinski radius for the class $ \mathcal {W}^{0}_{\mathcal {H}}(\alpha , \beta ) $.

We solve a problem posed by Blasco, Bonilla and Grosse-Erdmann in 2010 by constructing a harmonic function on ℝN, that is frequently hypercyclic with respect to the partial differentiation operator ∂/∂xk and which has a minimal growth rate in terms of the average L2-norm on spheres of radius r > 0 as r → ∞.

Let $h_{\vee }^{\infty }\,\left( \text{B} \right)$ and $h_{\vee }^{\infty }\,\left( \text{B} \right)$ be the spaces of harmonic functions in the unit disk and multidimensional unit ball admitting a two-sided radial majorant $v\left( r \right)$. We consider functions $v$ that fulfill a doubling condition. In the two-dimensional case let

$$u\left( r{{e}^{i\theta }},\xi \right)\,=\,\sum\limits_{j=0}^{\infty }{\left( {{a}_{j0}}{{\xi }_{j0}}{{r}^{j}}\,\cos \,j\theta \,+\,{{a}_{j1}}{{\xi }_{j1}}{{r}^{j}}\,\sin \,j\theta \right)}$$

where $\xi \,=\,\left\{ {{\xi }_{ji}} \right\}$ is a sequence of random subnormal variables and ${{a}_{ji}}$ are real. In higher dimensions we consider series of spherical harmonics. We will obtain conditions on the coefficients ${{a}_{ji}}$ that imply that $u$ is in $h_{\vee }^{\infty }\,\left( \text{B} \right)$ almost surely. Our estimate improves previous results by Bennett, Stegenga, and Timoney, and we prove that the estimate is sharp. The results for growth spaces can easily be applied to Bloch-type spaces, and we obtain a similar characterization for these spaces that generalizes results by Anderson, Clunie, and Pommerenke and by Guo and Liu.

Maximum principles for subharmonic functions in the framework of quasi-regular local semi-Dirichlet forms admitting lower bounds are presented. As applications, we give weak and strong maximum principles for (local) subsolutions of a second order elliptic differential operator on the domain of Euclidean space under conditions on coefficients, which partially generalize the results by Stampacchia.

The Kesten-Stigum theorem for the one-type Galton-Watson process gives necessary and sufficient conditions for mean convergence of the martingale formed by the population size normed by its expectation. Here, the approach to this theorem pioneered by Lyons, Pemantle and Peres (1995) is extended to certain kinds of martingales defined for Galton-Watson processes with a general type space. Many examples satisfy stochastic domination conditions on the offspring distributions and suitable domination conditions combine nicely with general conditions for mean convergence to produce moment conditions, like the X log X condition of the Kesten-Stigum theorem. A general treatment of this phenomenon is given. The application of the approach to various branching processes is indicated. However, the main reason for developing the theory is to obtain martingale convergence results in a branching random walk that do not seem readily accessible with other techniques. These results, which are natural extensions of known results for martingales associated with binary branching Brownian motion, form the main application.

We consider a class of fractal subsets of ${{\mathbb{R}}^{d}}$ formed in a manner analogous to the construction of the Sierpinski carpet. We prove a uniform Harnack inequality for positive harmonic functions; study the heat equation, and obtain upper and lower bounds on the heat kernel which are, up to constants, the best possible; construct a locally isotropic diffusion $X$ and determine its basic properties; and extend some classical Sobolev and Poincaré inequalities to this setting.

We give an elementary potential-theoretic proof of a theorem of G. Johnsson: all solutions of Cauchy’s problems for the Laplace equations with an entire data on a sphere extend harmonically to the whole space RN except, perhaps, for the center of the sphere.

Suppose that a certain population consists of N individuals. One member initially learns a rumour from an outside source, and starts telling it to other members, who continue spreading the information. A knower becomes inactive once he encounters somebody already informed. Daley and Kendall, who initiated the study of this model, conjectured that the number of eventual knowers is asymptotically normal with mean and variance linear in N. Our purpose is to confirm this conjecture.

Given a domain D in R” and two specified points P0 and P1 in D we consider the problem of minimizing u(p1) over all functions harmonic in D with values between 0 and 1 normalised by the requirement u(P0) = 1/2. We show that when D is suitably regular the problem has a unique solution u* which necessarily takes on boundary values 0 or 1 almost everywhere on the boundary. In the process we prove that it is possible to separate P0 and P1by a harmonic function whose boundary value is supported in an arbitrary set of positive measure. These results depend on the fact that (under suitable regularity conditions) a harmonic function which vanishes on an open subset of the boundary has a normal derivative which is almost everywhere non-vanishing in that set.

Computer scientists have introduced ‘paging algorithms' which are a special class of Markov chains on permutations known, in probability theory, as ‘libraries': books being placed on a shelf T (T is an infinite interval of the set Z of the integers) and a policy ρ : T → T such that ρ (t) < t being chosen, a book b placed at t ∊ T is selected with probability pb, it is removed and replaced at ρ (t) prior to next removal. The different arrangements of books on the shelf are the states of the Markov chain. In this paper we prove that, if the shelf is not bounded on the left, any library (i.e. for any policy ρ and any probability ρ on the books) is transient.

If H is an arbitrary harmonic function defined on an open set Ω⊂ℂ, then the curvature of the level curves of H can be strictly maximal or strictly minimal at a point of Ω. However, if Ω is a doubly connected domain bounded by analytic convex Jordan curves, and if H is harmonic measure of Ω with respect to the outer boundary of Ω, then the minimal curvature of the level curves of H is attained on the boundary of Ω.