Zeros of smooth stationary Gaussian processes

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the asymptotic distribution of zeros of smooth stationary Gaussian processes, establishing laws of large numbers and central limit theorems for zero counts over large intervals.

Contribution

It provides new asymptotic formulas for moments of zero counts and characterizes short-range repulsion and long-range decorrelation of zeros.

Findings

Asymptotic order $R^{p/2}$ for the $p$-th central moment of zero counts.

Almost sure convergence of rescaled zero measures to Lebesgue measure.

Gaussian fluctuations of zero counts around the mean.

Abstract

Let $f:\mathbb{R} \to \mathbb{R}$ be a stationary centered Gaussian process. For any $R>0$, let $\nu_R$ denote the counting measure of $\{x \in \mathbb{R} \mid f(Rx)=0\}$. In this paper, we study the large $R$ asymptotic distribution of $\nu_R$. Under suitable assumptions on the regularity of $f$ and the decay of its correlation function at infinity, we derive the asymptotics as $R \to +\infty$ of the central moments of the linear statistics of $\nu_R$. In particular, we derive an asymptotics of order $R^\frac{p}{2}$ for the $p$-th central moment of the number of zeros of $f$ in $[0,R]$. As an application, we derive a functional Law of Large Numbers and a functional Central Limit Theorem for the random measures~$\nu_R$. More precisely, after a proper rescaling, $\nu_R$ converges almost surely towards the Lebesgue measure in weak-$*$ sense. Moreover, the fluctuation of $\nu_R$ around its mean converges in distribution towards the standard Gaussian White Noise. The proof of our moments estimates relies on a careful study of the $k$-point function of the zero point process of~$f$, for any $k \geq 2$. Our analysis yields two results of independent interest. First, we derive an equivalent of this $k$-point function near any point of the large diagonal in~$\mathbb{R}^k$, thus quantifying the short-range repulsion between zeros of $f$. Second, we prove a clustering property which quantifies the long-range decorrelation between zeros of $f$.